Anti-myopia-progression spectacles and associated methods

ABSTRACT

Spectacles that control myopia progression have a central zone that achieves foveal vision correction and distributed micro-reticle(s) and corresponding micro-lens(es) around the paracentral and/or peripheral zone of the spectacle. Each micro-lens is disposed between its corresponding micro-reticle and the pupil of a wearer&#39;s eye. The micro-reticle(s) and micro-lens(es) are integrated with the structure of the spectacle to partially block some of the paracentral and/or peripheral objects from surrounding optical environment. The rest of the paracentral and/or peripheral retinal areas are still available for a wearer&#39;s eye to sense the presence and movement of surrounding objects.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This U.S. application claims the benefit of and is a Continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 16/583,093, filed Sep. 25 2019, of the sametitle, recently allowed, which application claims the benefit of and isa non-provisional application of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/737,111, filed Sep. 27, 2018, expired. Additionally, U.S. applicationSer. No. 16/583,093 claims priority and is a Continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/366,972, filed Mar. 27, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No.10,921,612, issued Feb. 16, 2021, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/649,669, filed Mar. 29, 2018, expired,which applications and patents are incorporated herein in their entiretyby this reference

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

One or more embodiments of the present invention relate generally tomyopia progression control or myopia prevention. In particular, theembodiments are related to various designs of anti-myopia progressionspectacles.

BACKGROUND

With the popular use of personal computers and mobile cell phones byyoung children, the percentage of school children developing myopia hasincreased substantially in the past couple of decades. The onset ofmyopia also occurs at younger ages as compared to the time beforepersonal computers and mobile cell phones were popular. Although thecause and treatment of myopia have been debated for decades, the exactmechanism of myopia development remains unclear. However, recentclinical studies have shown that myopia progression can be slowed andcontrolled. In addition to treatment using pharmaceutical substanceslike atropine and pirenzepine, another clinically proven approach is tooptically extend the depth of focus (or field) by making both distantand nearby objects in focus such that demand for sufficientaccommodation is substantially reduced. Still another clinically provenapproach is to optically induce paracentral and/or peripheral myopicdefocus on the retina, i.e. with sharply focused image of a distantobject formed on the fovea or macula, and with paracentral and/orperipheral image shell of a distant off axis object formed in front ofthe retina.

Myopic defocusing in front of peripheral retina and/or extension ofdepth-of-focus (or field) can be accomplished using several techniques.In addition to reshaping the cornea using, for example, orthokeratology(Ortho-K) to achieve at least one of the two optical effects, many lensdesigns that produce at least one of the two optical effects have beendisclosed to the public. They include different types of progressiveaddition lenses (PALs), bi-focal lenses, multi-focal lenses, progressivemultifocal lenses, and extended depth-of-focus lenses.

Most of these lenses are contact lenses comprising one optical elementwith various modifications of the optical path length from the center tothe periphery. An issue with the use of a contact lens is that whenchildren are relatively young (for example, from about 4 years to about10 years old), they may not be mature enough to be trained to safely putcontact lenses on their eyes by themselves. For this group of children,to both correct their refractive error(s) and also slow or stop theirmyopia progression, it is more desirable to offer them an anti-myopiaspectacle.

A few sub-optimal inferior anti-myopia-progression spectacles that havebeen either commercialized or disclosed to the public as news release,to offer myopia progression control. They include the MyoVisionspectacle from Zeiss, the Myopilux spectacle from Essilor Internationaland the MyoSmart spectacle with D.I.M.S. Technology (DefocusIncorporated Multiple Segments Technology) from Hoya Corp. Thesespectacles have been found to offer limited efficacy in terms of myopiaprogression control. For example, the Zeiss MyoVision spectacle lens hasbeen clinically found to be effective for children who have myopicparents and the average reduction to myopia progression is about 30% ascompared to a control group. The Myopilux Max spectacles claim to haveslowed down myopia progression by up to 62%, but only for exophoricchildren with properly measured and prescribed prismatic bifocalcorrection. In the case of Essilor International's Myopilux Pro, aprogressive addition lens specially designed for esophoric kids, theclaimed percentage in myopia progression reduction is about 38%. TheMyoSmart spectacles' clinical trials have shown that children wearingdefocus lenses had 60 percent less myopia progression and in 21.5% ofthe children, the myopia progression halted completely. However, theseresults are still not good enough to completely halt myopia progressionin a majority of children to solve the problem of the unprecedentedglobal epidemic of myopia.

Therefore, a need exists for an improved design of ananti-myopia-progression spectacle that will not only reduce the demandfor large accommodation but also at the same time consistently ensurethat there are always dominating paracentral and/or peripheral retinalimages sensed by a wearer's eye as either within focus or as somewhatmyopically defocused on paracentral and/or peripheral retina tosubstantially improve clinical efficacy of myopia progression controlfor all myopic children or for children with high likelihood of myopiadevelopment but before the onset of myopia.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the present invention, micro-reticles andcorresponding micro-lenses are distributed around the paracentral and/orperipheral region of a spectacle lens or lens combination with eachmicro-lens arranged in between its corresponding micro-reticle and thepupil of a wearer's eye. The micro-lens refracts the light rays from themicro-reticle such that when the micro-reticle is presented to thewearer's eye, at least along one direction, a sharply focused line ofthe reticle image is formed either substantially on the paracentraland/or peripheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived by a wearer'seye) or in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e.myopically defocused within a desired range as perceived by the wearer'seye)., Each micro-reticle and micro-lens pair is arranged such that thepair is lined up with the micro-reticle imaging light rays from themicro-reticle that pass through the micro-lens also pass through thepupil of a wearer's eye to land on the paracentral and/or peripheralretinal region of the wearer's eye.

In one embodiment, a single vision correction spectacle lens is designedwith paracentral and/or peripheral micro-reticles made on the frontsurface of the lens or embedded within the front portion of thespectacle lens material, and with their corresponding micro-lenseseither formed on the back surface of the single vision correction lensor embedded within the back portion of the spectacle lens material. Theoptical effect of the micro-lens is such that the micro-reticle isimaged by the combination of the micro-lens and all the other opticalelements in the reticle imaging light path, including those of awearer's eye, to form a micro-reticle image either substantially on theparacentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived bythe eye), or in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e.myopically defocused within a desired range as perceived by the eye).

In another embodiment, a progressive addition or peripheral-add-powervision correction spectacle lens is designed with paracentral and/orperipheral micro-reticles made on the front surface of the lens orembedded within the front portion of the spectacle lens material, andwith their corresponding micro-lenses either formed on the back surfaceof the spectacle lens or embedded within the back portion of thespectacle lens material. The optical effect of the micro-lens is suchthat the micro-reticle is imaged by the combination of the micro-lensand all other optical elements in the reticle imaging light path,including those of a wearer's eye, to form a micro-reticle image eithersubstantially on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e. withinfocus as perceived by the eye), or in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina (i.e. myopically defocused within a desired range asperceived by the eye).

In still another embodiment, a bi-focal or multi-focal orextended-depth-of-focus vision correction spectacle lens is designedwith paracentral and/or peripheral micro-reticles made on the frontsurface of the lens or embedded within the front portion of thespectacle lens material, and with their corresponding micro-lenseseither formed on the back surface of the spectacle lens or embeddedwithin the back portion of the spectacle lens material. The opticaleffect of the micro-lens is such that the micro-reticle is imaged by thecombination of the micro-lens and all the other optical elements in thereticle imaging light path, including those of a wearer's eye, to form amicro-reticle image either substantially on the paracentral and/orperipheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived by the eye), or infront of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e. myopicallydefocused within a desired range as perceived by the eye).

In still another embodiment, an Increased Resolvable Object DistanceRange (IRODR) vision correction lens combination as disclosed inApplicants' U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/366,972, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety, is designed to includemicro-reticles and corresponding micro-lenses in the paracentral and/orperipheral zone of the IRODR lens combination, with each micro-lensarranged in between its corresponding micro-reticle and a wearer's eyesuch that the micro-reticle is imaged by the combination of themicro-lens and all the other optical elements in the reticle imaginglight path, including those of a wearer's eye, to form a reticle imageeither substantially on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e.within focus as perceived by the eye), or in front of the paracentraland/or peripheral retina (i.e. myopically defocused within a desiredrange as perceived by the eye).

In the IRODR spectacle case where a combination of a first negativerefractive lens and a second positive refractive lens form a spectaclelens combination, there are a number of ways to arrange eachmicro-reticle relative to its corresponding micro-lens because there arefour optical interfaces and there is also a gap in between the tworefractive lenses inside the lens combination.

One approach is to insert a glass or plastic or polymer layer in the gapwith the layer having micro-reticles arranged around an annular regionon its front surface and corresponding micro-lenses around an annularregion on its back surface. Another approach is to arrange themicro-reticles on the back surface of the first negative refractivelens, and to arrange their corresponding micro-lenses on the frontsurface of the second positive refractive lens. In these two approaches,the micro-reticles and the micro-lenses are buried inside the spectaclelens combination and the gap space can be properly sealed, so they willnot be easily damaged with their optical effects influenced, becausedirt/smear collection and cleaning will happen only on the two outersurfaces of the lens combination.

Other approaches associated with the IRODR spectacle cases includearranging the micro-reticles on the front surface of the first negativelens and their corresponding micro-lenses either on the back surface ofthe first negative lens or on the front surface of the second positivelens or on the back surface of the second positive lens; arranging themicro-reticles on the back surface of the first negative lens and theircorresponding micro-lenses on the back surface of the second positivelens; and arranging the micro-reticles on the front surface of thesecond positive lens and their corresponding micro-lenses on the backsurface of the second positive lens.

The focusing power and/or optical surface profile and/or the refractiveindex distribution of the micro-lens, when combined with the opticalpowers of all the other optical elements in the micro-reticle imagingpath, including those of a wearer's eye, will make the finalmicro-reticle image shell (i.e. the spherical equivalent image shell) toland either substantially on a corresponding paracentral and/orperipheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived by the eye), or infront of a corresponding paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e.myopically defocused within a desired range as perceived by the eye).

In some embodiments, the orientation direction of the micro-reticlepattern lines is such that relative to the pupil of the eye or thecenter of the spectacle lens, some lines are in the radial directionwhile others are in the circumferential direction. The objective is toproduce tangential and sagittal image shells as would be formed of a faroff-axis or paracentral and/or peripheral object by an emmetropic eye inthe paracentral and/or peripheral retina due to natural off-axis oroblique astigmatism of the eye.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the micro-lenses aredesigned with off-axis astigmatism correction capability such that thefinal micro-reticle images when formed on or in front of the paracentraland/or peripheral retina will have the off-axis-astigmatism neutralizedso the paracentral and/or peripheral retinal images of themicro-reticles will be focused with its tangential and sagittal imageshells substantially overlapping with each other.

In some embodiments, the design of the micro-reticles and micro-lensesare personalized in the sense that anatomical and/or visual and/oroptical measurements are made first with the measurement resultsfactored in to guide the design of the micro-reticles and micro-lenses.These measurements include optical biometry, and/or opticalrefraction/wavefront, and/or visual acuity, and/or visual contrastsensitivity in the central as well as paracentral and/or peripheralretina. Therefore, the micro-lenses can be a free-form one such that notonly lower order aberrations can be corrected but also higher orderaberrations can be corrected as well to produce sharply focusedmicro-reticle images on or somewhat in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina.

In some embodiments, the orientation direction of a first set ofmicro-reticle pattern lines is such that relative to the pupil of theeye or the center of the spectacle lens, the micro-reticle lines are inthe radial direction and a corresponding first set of micro-lenses aredesigned with or without off-axis astigmatism correction capability tospecifically form sharply focused radial line micro-images on or infront of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina; and the orientationdirection of a second set of micro-reticle pattern lines is such thatrelative to the pupil of the eye or the center of the spectacle lens,the micro-reticle lines are in the circumferential direction and acorresponding second set of micro-lenses are designed with or withoutoff-axis astigmatism correction capability to specifically form sharplyfocused circumferential line micro-images on or in front of theparacentral and/or peripheral retina. The objective is to separatelyproduce tangential and sagittal images that are respectively sharplyfocused on, or in front of, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

As in some embodiments, the focusing power and/or optical surfaceprofile and/or the refractive index distribution of the micro-lens, whencombined with the optical powers of all the other optical elements inthe reticle imaging path, including those of a wearer's eye, will makethe final reticle image's tangential image shell to land eithersubstantially on corresponding paracentral and/or peripheral retina(i.e. within focus as perceived by a wearer's eye) or in front ofcorresponding paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e. myopicallydefocused within a desired range as perceived by the eye). In oneembodiment, the micro-reticle patterns are concentric or race-trackrings or circumferential line segments and the correspondingmicro-lenses are circumferential cylindrical ring lenses orcircumferential cylindrical line segment lenses with their focusingpower only in the radial direction such that they will focus theconcentric or race-track ring or circumferential line segmentmicro-reticle patterns into sharply focused or myopically defocused lineimages on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e. within focus asperceived by the eye, or myopically defocused within a desired range asperceived by the eye).

In some embodiments, the focusing power and/or optical surface profileand/or the refractive index distribution of the micro-lens, whencombined with the optical powers of all the other optical elements inthe reticle imaging path, including those of the wearer's eye, will makethe final micro-reticle image's sagittal image shell to land eithersubstantially on, or in front of, a corresponding paracentral and/orperipheral retinal region of the wearer's eye. In one embodiment, themicro-reticle patterns are radial line segments and the correspondingmicro-lenses are also radially segmented cylindrical lenses with theirfocusing only in the circumferential direction such that they will focusthe radial line segment micro-reticle patterns into sharply focused ormyopically defocused radial line-segment images on the paracentraland/or peripheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived by a wearer'seye, or myopically defocused within a desired range as perceived by awearer's eye).

In still another embodiment, the micro-reticle patterns are acombination of concentric or race-track rings (or circumferential linesegment) and radial line-segment, and the corresponding micro-lenses area combination of circumferential cylindrical ring (or line segment)lenses with their focusing only in the radial direction and radiallysegmented cylindrical lenses with their focusing only in thecircumferential direction, such that each sets of the micro-lenses willrespectively focus the concentric or race-track ring (or circumferentialline segment) and the radial line-segment micro-reticle patterns intosharply focused or myopically defocused concentric or race-track ringand radial line images on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e.within focus as perceived by a wearer's eye, or myopically defocusedwithin a desired range as perceived by a wearer's eye). The tangentialand sagittal image shells can be non-overlapping or overlapping.

In some embodiments, the micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs are designedsuch that the micro-reticle images on the paracentral and/or peripheralretina are within focus along at least one direction when the eye'saccommodation is in its relaxed state with its central or foveal regionviewing a far distance object, and that these micro-reticle images onthe paracentral and/or peripheral retina are myopically defocused alongat least one direction when the eye is accommodated with its central orfoveal region viewing a near distance object.

In some embodiments, two different sets of micro-reticle and micro-lenspairs are designed to cast different sets of micro-reticle images on theparacentral and/or peripheral retina. A first set of the micro-reticleand micro-lens pairs are designed to form sharply focused reticle imagessubstantially on or slightly in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina of a wearer's eye along at least one direction whenthe eye's accommodation is in its relaxed state, and a second set ofmicro-reticle and micro-lens pairs are designed to form sharply focusedreticle images substantially on or slightly in front of the paracentraland/or peripheral retina of the wearer's eye along at least onedirection when the eye is accommodated to focus on near object.

In some embodiments, the micro-lenses are designed with bifocal ormulti-focal or extended-depth-of-focus properties such that themicro-reticles are imaged to the paracentral and/or peripheral retinawith extended depth of focus to always ensure that the micro-reticleimages are within focus along at least one direction regardless of theaccommodation state of the eye. The micro-lens design can be that ofconcentric rings of different focusing powers such as a concentricFresnel multi-focus lens or a progressive addition (or subtraction) lensor an axicon lens or a multi-focusing power toric lens or amulti-focusing power cylindrical lens or a combination of different lenstypes.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the micro-lenses aredesigned with their central portion functioning like a micro-lens tosolely cause the micro-reticle image to land either substantially on orin front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e. within focusas perceived by a wearer's eye, or myopically defocused within a desiredrange as perceived by a wearer's eye), and with their surroundingportion functioning like a mini-lens with substantially less opticalfocusing power than the central portion micro-lens does, and with thetransition gradual to substantially reduce the effect ofmicro-lens-edge-induced defocused images on the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. Meanwhile the surrounding portion of the micro-lenseswhich functions as mini-lenses will have enough add power relative tothe central refractive power of the spectacle lens to render or projectparacentral and/or peripheral off-axis objects in the surroundingoptical environment of the wearer's eye to be myopically defocused onthe paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

In still another embodiment of the present invention, different groupsof either micro-lenses and mini-lenses are designed with only themicro-lenses having corresponding micro-reticles to purely serve thefunction of imaging the micro-reticle to land either substantially on orin front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e. within focusas perceived by a wearer's eye, or myopically defocused within a desiredrange as perceived by a wearer's eye), and with the other mini-lensesnot having corresponding micro-reticles but purely to render paracentraland/or peripheral objects in the surrounding optical environment of thewearer's eye to be myopically defocused on the paracentral and/orperipheral retina.

In some embodiments, the mechanical frame's eye wire/rim that holds thespectacle lens or lens combination is made transparent. This is tosubstantially reduce the strongly hyperopic defocus optical signal ofthe frame's eye wire/rim image that lands on the peripheral retina.

In one embodiment, the spectacle lens is designed in a similar manner asa conventional single vision correction lens for myopia correction or asan Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR) vision correctionlens combination, and the frame's eye wire/rim is made of a relativelywide transparent optical media with micro-reticles on its outer side andcorresponding micro-lenses on its inner side such that the micro-reticleimages are projected by the micro-lenses together with other opticalelements including those of the eye to land substantially on theperipheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived by the wearer's eye)or in front of the peripheral retina (i.e. myopically defocused within adesired range as perceived by a wearer's eye).

In another embodiment, the spectacle lens is designed in a similarmanner as a conventional single vision correction lens for myopiacorrection or as a IRODR vision correction lens combination but withmicro-reticles and micro-lenses already made around the paracentraland/or peripheral of the spectacle lens, and meanwhile, the frame's eyewire/rim is made of a relatively wide transparent optical media withmicro-reticles deposited on the outer side and correspondingmicro-lenses made on the inner side. The micro-reticle images arerelayed by the micro-lenses together with other optical elementsincluding those of the eye to land substantially on the paracentral andperipheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived by a wearer's eye) orin front of the paracentral and peripheral retina (i.e. myopicallydefocused within a desired range as perceived by a wearer's eye).

In some embodiments, the micro-reticle includes a pattern such as a linesegment, a ring, a cross and/or hash, with the line direction in theradial (or meridional) direction and/or in the circumferential directionrelative to the pupil of the eye or the center of the spectacle lens.

In another embodiment, the line width and line length of themicro-reticle pattern, and the spacing of the micro-reticle patterns,when imaged on or in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina,are correlated to enable the eye's paracentral and/or peripheral retinaldetection and/or resolving acuity (i.e. the micro-reticle image in theparacentral and/or peripheral retinal region can still be resolved bythe paracentral and/or peripheral retina per a wearer's paracentraland/or peripheral visual acuity).

In some embodiments, the line width of the micro-reticle pattern, whenoptically relayed to the paracentral and/or peripheral retina is equalto or greater than the size of paracentral and/or peripheral retinalcone cells.

In some embodiments, the line length of the micro-reticle pattern, whenoptically relayed to the paracentral and/or peripheral retina, is equalto or greater than the spacing/distance between two neighboringparacentral and/or peripheral retinal ganglion cells.

In some embodiments, the spacing/distance between two neighboringmicro-reticle patterns, when optically relayed to the paracentral and/orperipheral retina is equal to or greater than the spacing/distancebetween two neighboring paracentral and/or peripheral retinal ganglioncells.

The objective of such a distribution is to ensure that micro-reticleimages on the paracentral and/or peripheral region of the retina areresolvable by the wearer's eye per the distribution of the retinal coneand ganglion cells in these regions.

In one embodiment, the distribution of the micro-reticle and micro-lenspairs is such that while a certain percentage of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina is reserved for perceiving the presence and/ormovement of paracentral and/or peripheral objects, the remainingpercentage of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina is intercepted orcovered by the micro-reticle images formed either substantially on theretina (i.e. within focus as perceived by a wearer's eye) or in front ofthe retina (i.e. myopically defocused within a desired range asperceived by a wearer's eye), with the micro-reticle images producing anoverall stronger optical signal to stop eye growth than the opticalsignal that can potentially be produced by the paracentral and/orperipheral object images to stimulate eye elongation.

In some embodiments, the micro-reticles can be either completely opaqueor semi-transparent. In one embodiment, the opaqueness or semi- orvariable transparency of the micro-reticles is designed such that undernormal indoor and/or outdoor lighting conditions, the micro-reticleimages casted on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina always havehigh enough contrast such that these images are dominating over realoptical environmental paracentral and/or peripheral object imagesproduced by the surrounding environment the wearer's eye actually seesregardless of whether the eye is accommodated for near distance viewingor relaxed for far distance viewing.

In one embodiment, the semi- or variable transparency or opaqueness ofthe micro-reticles is designed such that under normal outdoor and/orindoor surrounding lighting conditions, when the eye's accommodation isrelaxed to view far distance object, a first set of micro-reticle imagesthat are substantially focused along at least one direction on theparacentral and/or peripheral retina have enough contrast to producedominating perceived-within-focus signals for the paracentral and/orperipheral retina, while a second set of micro-reticle images notfocused on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (thus is blurred tosome extent) do not have enough contrast to produce perceivable signalsfor the paracentral and/or peripheral retina; whereas when the eye'saccommodation is changed to view near distance object, the second set ofmicro-reticle images that are now substantially focused along at leastone direction on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina have enoughcontrast to produce dominating perceived-within-focus signals for theparacentral and/or peripheral retina, while the first set ofmicro-reticle images that are not focused on the paracentral and/orperipheral retina do not have enough contrast to produce perceivablesignals for the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

In another embodiment, the micro-reticles and/or the paracentral and/orperipheral region of the spectacle lens are colored to explore the mostefficient color band or color contrast that will produce the strongestoptical signals to slow down or stop eye elongation. The coloring can bethe same or different among different micro-reticle images and theparacentral and/or peripheral region of the spectacle lens. Since thereis more than one optical surfaces associated with the presently inventedspectacle lens, any of the surfaces can be colored, including thesurface(s) of the micro-lens as well as the surfaces of the spectaclelens(es). The color of the micro-reticles and/or the paracentral and/orperipheral region of the spectacle lens is designed such that undernormal indoor and/or outdoor lighting conditions, the coloredmicro-reticle images of a wavelength range casted on the paracentraland/or peripheral retina always have high enough colored contrast suchthat these colored images are dominating in terms of producing opticalsignals to slow down or stop eye elongation over real paracentral and/orperipheral object images produced by the surrounding optical environmentthat the wearer's eye actually sees regardless of whether the eye isaccommodated for near distance viewing or relaxed for far distanceviewing.

As one embodiment of the present invention, micro-lenses andcorresponding micro-reticles are made on the transparent eye wires/rimsof a spectacle frame without or with a spectacle lens, with themicro-lenses configured to project micro-reticle images on or in frontof the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. Another embodiment of thepresent invention is to use only a spectacle frame without a spectaclelens as anti-myopia means to treat myopia progression. In such a case,the spectacle frame's eye wires/rims are transparent and havemicro-reticles and micro-lenses made on them to project micro-reticleimages on the peripheral retina.

As another embodiment of the present invention, micro-lenses andcorresponding micro-reticles are made on both the transparent eyewire/rim of the spectacle frame and also around the paracentral and/orperipheral zone of the spectacle lens. The micro-lenses are configuredto project micro-reticle images on or in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina.

As still another embodiment of the present invention, micro-lenses andcorresponding micro-reticles are made around the paracentral and/orperipheral region of a clip-on glass/layer that can be added to aspectacle lens in a similar way as a clip-on sun glass does.

One embodiment of the present invention is to embed solar cells orbatteries (together with micro-electronic circuits) and light sensors onor in the spectacle frame or its eye wires/rims to enable sensing and/oractivation of certain functions. In such a case, micro-reticles andmicro-lenses are made on the eye wire/rim and/or the spectacle lens (orlens combination) and the micro-reticle pattern or its substrate can betransparent and light emitting. When the surrounding lighting is dim toresult in below-threshold contrast of micro-reticles images, themicro-reticle pattern can be lit up to compensate the dim and to justincrease the contrast of the micro-reticle images on the paracentraland/or peripheral retina to make the contrast of the micro-reticleimages above threshold such that neurophysiological signals can alwaysbe created.

Still another embodiment of the present invention is to use a curvedpanoramic goggle glass/layer to treat myopia progression. In such acase, instead of using temples, elastic band(s) that circle(s) aroundthe head is(are) used to mount the panoramic goggle relative to the eye.In such a case, the micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs are made on theparacentral and/or peripheral zone of the panoramic goggle glass/layerto project micro-reticle images on the paracentral and/or peripheralretina. This embodiment can be more suitable for relatively youngchildren.

Note that the various features of the present invention described abovemay be practiced alone or in combination. These and other features ofthe present invention will be described in more detail below in thedetailed description of the invention and in conjunction with thefollowing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In order that the present invention may be more clearly ascertained,some embodiments will now be described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young emmetropic eye when such an eye iswearing a zero diopter spectacle lens that has the presently disclosedmicro-reticle and its corresponding micro-lens and when the eye isfixating on a far way object;

FIG. 1B shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young emmetropic eye when such an eye iswearing a zero diopter spectacle lens that has the presently disclosedmicro-reticle and its corresponding micro-lens and when the eye isfixating on a near object;

FIG. 2A shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young myopic eye when such an eye is wearinga minus diopter value spectacle lens that has the presently disclosedmicro-reticle and its corresponding micro-lens and when the eye isfixating on a far way object;

FIG. 2B shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young myopic eye when such an eye is wearinga minus diopter value spectacle lens that has the presently disclosedmicro-reticle and its corresponding micro-lens and when the eye isfixating on a near object;

FIG. 3A shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young emmetropic or myopic eye when such aneye is wearing an Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR)central vision correction spectacle lens that has the presentlydisclosed micro-reticle and its corresponding micro-lens and when theeye is fixating on a far way object;

FIG. 3B shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young emmetropic or myopic eye when such aneye is wearing an Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR)central vision correction spectacle lens that has the presentlydisclosed micro-reticle and its corresponding micro-lens and when theeye is fixating on a near;

FIGS. 4A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied to asingle vision correction spectacle lens where the front surface of thespectacle lens is deposited with micro-reticle patterns around theparacentral and/or peripheral zone and the back surface of the singlevision correction spectacle lens has corresponding micro-lenses;

FIGS. 5A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied to aprogression addition vision correction spectacle lens where the frontsurface of the spectacle lens is deposited with micro-reticle patternsaround the paracentral and/or peripheral zone and the back surface ofthe single vision correction spectacle lens has correspondingmicro-lenses;

FIGS. 6A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied toan executive bi-focal vision correction spectacle lens where the frontsurface of the spectacle lens is deposited with micro-reticle patternsaround the paracentral and/or peripheral zone and the back surface ofthe vision correction spectacle lens has corresponding micro-lenses;

FIGS. 7A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied toan Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR) spectacle lenscombination with the micro-reticles made on the front surface of thefirst negative lens and with the micro-lenses made on the back surfaceof the first negative lens of the IRODR spectacle lens combination;

FIGS. 8A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied toan Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR) spectacle lenscombination with the micro-reticles made on the front surface of thefirst negative lens and with the micro-lenses made on the front surfaceof the second positive lens of the IRODR spectacle lens combination;

FIGS. 9A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied toan Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR)spectacle lenscombination with the micro-reticles made on the front surface of thefirst negative lens and with the micro-lenses made on the back surfaceof the second positive lens of a MRGT spectacle lens combination;

FIGS. 10A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied toan Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR) spectacle lenscombination with the micro-reticles made on the back surface of thefirst negative lens and with the micro-lenses made on the front surfaceof the second positive lens of the IRODR spectacle lens combination;

FIGS. 11A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied toan Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR) spectacle lenscombination with the micro-reticles made on the back surface of thefirst negative lens and with the micro-lenses made on the back surfaceof the second positive lens of the IRODR spectacle lens combination;

FIGS. 12A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied toan Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR) spectacle lenscombination with the micro-reticles made on the front surface of thesecond positive lens and with the micro-lenses made on the back surfaceof the second positive lens of the IRODR spectacle lens combination;

FIGS. 13A-B show an embodiment of the present invention when applied toan Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR) spectacle lenscombination with the micro-reticles made on the front surface of anadded plate/layer and with the micro-lenses made on the back surface ofthe added plate/layer where the added plate/layer is disposed in betweenthe first negative lens and the second positive lens of a IRODRspectacle lens combination;

FIGS. 14A-C show embodiments of the present invention in whichconcentric rings and radial line segments based micro-reticle patternsare combined with concentric rings and radial line segments basedcylindrical micro-lenses to respectively project tangential and sagittalline images on or in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina;

FIGS. 15A-C show embodiments of the present invention in whichcircumferential line segments and radial line segments basedmicro-reticle patterns are combined with circumferential line segmentand radial line segment based micro-cylindrical lenses to respectivelyproject tangential and sagittal line images on or in front of theparacentral and/or peripheral retina;

FIGS. 16A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in whichmicro-reticle patterns are combined with micro-toric-lenses that haveadditional positive cylindrical focusing power in the circumferentialdirection to bring the sagittal image shell closer to the tangentialimage shell or even to cause the sagittal image shell to overlap withthe tangential image shell, and to project tangential and sagittal lineimages on or in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina;

FIGS. 17A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in whichmicro-reticle patterns are combined with micro-multifocal-lenses toproject micro-reticle images on or in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. The micro-reticle and micro-multifocal-lens pairs aredesigned with each micro-multifocal-lens having multiple focusing powersto extend the depth of focus such that the micro-reticle images will beperceived by a wearer's eye as within focus, or as within desired myopicdefocus range in the paracentral and/or peripheral retina regardless ofthe accommodation state of the wearer's eye;

FIGS. 18A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in which twosets of micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs are arranged around theparacentral and/or peripheral region of a spectacle lens or lenscombination such that two sets of micro-reticle images will be formed onor in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina with one set'smicro-reticle images designed for the unaccommodated or relaxed state ofa wearer's eye, and the other designed for the accommodated state of thewearer's eye;

FIGS. 19A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in which one setof micro-lenses have corresponding micro-reticles and are designed toproject micro-reticle images on or in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina, and another set of mini-lenses larger in size thanthat of the micro-lenses are configured to project images of paracentraland/or peripheral objects from surrounding optical environment on or infront of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina;

FIGS. 20A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in whichmicro-lenses having corresponding micro-reticles are either made on topof corresponding mini-lenses which are made on the back side of thespectacle lens, or are made on the back surface of the spectacle lenswhile the micro-reticles are made on the mini-lenses which are made onthe front side of the spectacle lens;

FIG. 21 shows an embodiment of the present invention in whichmicro-lenses and corresponding micro-reticles are made on thetransparent eye wire/rim of a spectacle with the micro-lenses designedto project micro-reticle images on or in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina, while the spectacle lens portion is the same as aconventional spectacle lens;

FIG. 22 shows an embodiment of the present invention in whichmicro-lenses and corresponding micro-reticles are made on both thetransparent eye wire/rim of the spectacle frame and the paracentraland/or peripheral zone of the spectacle lens, with the micro-lensesdesigned to project micro-reticle images on or in front of theparacentral and/or peripheral retina;

FIGS. 23A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in which themicro-lenses and corresponding micro-reticles are made on a clip-onlayer in its paracentral and/or peripheral zone to add to a spectaclelens in a similar way as a clip-on sun glass does, with the micro-lensesdesigned to project micro-reticle images on or in front of theparacentral and/or peripheral retina;

FIGS. 24A-C show an embodiment in which solar cells or batteries(together with micro-electronic circuits) and light sensors are embeddedin the spectacle frame or the eye wire/rim of the spectacle frame toenable sensing and/or activation of certain active functions, like thelighting up of the micro-reticle pattern. At the same time, on the eyewire/rim and/or the paracentral and/or peripheral zone of the spectaclelens (or lens combination), there are micro-reticles and micro-lensesmade there with the micro-lenses designed to project micro-reticleimages on or in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina;

FIG. 25 shows an embodiment in which only a spectacle frame without aspectacle lens (or a spectacle with a zero diopter spectacle lens) isused as anti-myopia means to treat myopia progression, withmicro-reticles and micro-lenses made on the spectacle frame only andwith the micro-lenses designed to project micro-reticle images on, or infront, of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina; and

FIG. 26 shows an embodiment in which a curved panoramic goggleglass/layer is designed with micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs made inits paracentral and/or peripheral zone(s), with the micro-lensesdesigned to project micro-reticle images on or in front of theparacentral and/or peripheral retina.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of theinvention. Examples of these embodiments are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. While the invention will be described inconjunction with these embodiments, it will be understood that it is notintended to limit the invention to any embodiment. On the contrary, itis intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as maybe included within the spirit and scope of the invention. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forth in orderto provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments. However,the present invention may be practiced without some or all of thesespecific details. In other instances, well known process operations havenot been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure norapply limitations to the present invention. Further, each appearance ofthe phrase “embodiment” at various places in the specification does notnecessarily refer to the same example embodiment.

Aspects, features and advantages of exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention will become better understood with regard to the followingdescription in connection with the accompanying drawing(s). It should beapparent to those skilled in the art that the described embodiments ofthe present invention provided herein are illustrative only and notlimiting, having been presented by way of example only. All featuresdisclosed in this description may be replaced by alternative featuresserving the same or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise.Therefore, numerous other embodiments of the modifications thereof arecontemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention asdefined herein and equivalents thereto. Hence, use of absolute and/orsequential terms, such as, for example, “will,” “will not,” “shall,”“shall not,” “must,” “must not,” “first,” “initially,” “next,”“subsequently,” “before,” “after,” “lastly,” and “finally,” are notmeant to limit the scope of the present invention as the embodimentsdisclosed herein are merely exemplary.

There has been an unprecedented global epidemic of myopia(nearsightedness), caused by the increasing time that children spend onnear visual tasks, including mobile devices and computers. The epidemichas a major impact on global health care costs and morbidity. Currently,30% of the world population is myopic and by 2050, almost 50% will bemyopic. The projected result is 5 B myopes, and 1 B high myopes by 2050.

The biological mechanisms that influence eye growth and hence refractiveerror development are not only dependent on fovea vision but alsodependent on other portions of the retina. This means that the retinahas a central as well as paracentral and/or peripheral retina role inoptically regulating eye growth and that each area of retina processesthe retinal image and influences the growth and/or biomechanics of thesclera. Therefore, optical intervention that can influence the imagequality on the overall retina, and differentially on different retinalzones, can have an effect on refractive error development.

All children are at risk of developing myopia which emerges between theages of 4 to 10 and continue to progress until up to 25 years of age.There are several approaches to prevent progression of myopia duringthis period, including pharmaceutical (i.e. low dose Atropine) andoptical (i.e. specially designed contact lenses). However, in thisvulnerable age group, chronic treatment with medicinal drops or contactlenses is particularly challenging. Therefore, spectacle based solutionis advantageous.

However, traditional single vision correction spectacle has been foundto foster instead of slow myopia progression. One possible reason forthe relative increase in myopia progression is that such a single visioncorrection spectacle is prescribed to only fully correct central orfovea vision for a far distance object, when the wearer is indoor andlooks at a near object, a limit in accommodation range (calledaccommodation lag) can cause the image of the near object to land behindthe fovea, thus producing a neurophysiological signal that will triggerthe eye to elongate.

An interesting discovery in terms of central foveal vision correction isthat under-correction cannot slow down myopia progression; on thecontrary, under-correction accelerates myopia progression. Thisdiscovery means that it is necessary to design anti-myopia-progressionlenses with at least some degree of central foveal full correctionwithin some extended accommodation range. Examples of such designsinclude bifocals (such as executive bifocals) and progressive additionlenses (PALs) based spectacles. However, these spectacles have beenfound to provide limited control in myopia progression, in part becausecompliance of the wearer to always look through the near additionportion for near work cannot be guaranteed.

Another possible reason for the progression of myopia when a singlevision correction spectacle is worn is that for paracentral and/orperipheral off axis objects, the spectacle lens will optically relay theoff-axis objects to form paracentral and/or peripheral off-axis imagesthat are focused behind the paracentral and/or peripheral retina (i.e.hyperopically defocused on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina),thus producing a neurophysiological signal that will trigger the eye toelongate.

Still another possible reason for the progression of myopia when asingle vision correction spectacle is worn is that the optical structureof the surrounding environment can produce dominating paracentral and/orperipheral retinal images across the visual field for different indoorenvironments that are behind the paracentral and/or peripheral retina(i.e. hyperopically defocused on the paracentral and/or peripheralretina). In regard to this situation, the position of paracentral and/orperipheral images relative to the paracentral and/or peripheral retinais dependent not only on the optical structure of the surroundingenvironment but also on the fixation point and the accommodation of thewearer's eye. This means that in the case of indoor near vision, whileaccommodation can increase the focusing power of the natural ocular lensto achieve sharp foveal vision, this accommodation can also cause theimages of near distance paracentral and/or peripheral objects to landmuch more behind the paracentral and/or peripheral retina compared tooutdoor cases. In other words, when a person wearing a single visioncorrection spectacle changes his/her fixation from far to near or moveshis/her fixation in an indoor scene, although the fovea may experiencevery small change in the sharpness of the central image due to naturalaccommodation to refocus the central image on the fovea, the paracentraland/or peripheral objects can change relatively significantly dependingon the surrounding optical environment and thus produce dominatinghyperopically blurred paracentral and/or peripheral images on theparacentral and/or peripheral retina, leading to eye elongation.

Inferior attempts have been made to under correct peripheral vision(i.e. with add-on-power only around the peripheral zone of a spectaclelens to make peripheral retinal images in myopic defocus) include theuse of peripheral add-on-power spectacles (see for example U.S. Pat. No.7,025,460 (“Smitth '460”) and U.S. Pat. No. 10,268,050 (“To '050”).However, these spectacles have also been found to provide limitedcontrol in myopia progression. One possible explanation on why theyfailed to produce high enough efficacy to halt the progression of myopiais that the surrounding optical structure of the environment, especiallyan indoor environment, is not in the control of the spectacle designeror the wearer, and can therefore make the peripheral retinal images ofdifferent peripheral objects either in sharp focus, or in myopicdefocus, or in hyperopic defocus, on the peripheral retina as a resultof the eye fixation and surrounding environmental changes.

In accordance with this invention, much improved control is provided toensure that sufficient dominating paracentral and/or peripheral imagesare created on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina with desiredfocus status. These substantially dominating paracentral and/orperipheral images are created by reticle-focusers located on or in thespectacle lens and/or the spectacle eye wire/rim to focus reticlesintegrated with the spectacle lens and/or the spectacle eye wire/rimsuch that the integrated reticle is presented to a spectacle wearer'seye as a paracentral and/or peripheral object coming from well-definedparacentral and/or peripheral distances so the reticle image will beperceived by the wearer as either within focus or somewhat myopicallydefocused on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. In other words,the each reticle-focuser in combination with the optical elements of awearer's eye (including the cornea and the ocular lens) will opticalrelay an integrated reticle to sharply focus at least along one retinadirection either on the paracentral and/or peripheral or somewhat infront of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

In some embodiments, micro-reticles are integrated as part of thespectacle lenses and/or as part of the eye wire/rim of a spectacle framein combination with micro-lenses (with focusing power in at least onedirection in the form of cylinder lens or in two directions in form ofspherical or aspherical lens or toric lens or in the form of bifocal ormulti-focal or extended-depth-of-focus lens or even in the form of anaxicon or a free form lens) that are also made as part of the spectaclelenses and/or as part of the eye wire/rim of a spectacle frame. As aresult, under-control micro-reticle images are deliberately projectedonto the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. These eye wire/rim and/orparacentral and/or peripheral zone designs of a spectacle producein-focus, and/or in-myopic-defocus, reticle images on the paracentraland/or peripheral retina with desired size, contrast and spatialdistribution, thus resulting in overall dominating neurophysiologicalsignals to halt eye elongation and hence myopic progression whencompared to those generated by surrounding optical environment.

FIG. 1A shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young emmetropic eye 104 when such an eye104 is wearing a zero diopter spectacle lens 110 that has the presentlydisclosed micro-reticle R and its corresponding micro-lens L and whenthe eye is fixating on a far way object represented by the dashed line106. In this case, the micro-reticle R is imaged by the micro-lens L andthe eye 104 to land on or slightly in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. Other objects (M, P, Q as central objects and X, Y, Zas paracentral or peripheral objects) from the surrounding opticalenvironment are imaged by the zero diopter spectacle lens 110 and theeye 104 to land at different positions relative to the retina.

FIG. 1B shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young emmetropic eye 104 when such an eye iswearing a zero diopter spectacle lens 110 that has the presentlydisclosed micro-reticle R and its corresponding micro-lens L and whenthe eye is fixating on a near object represented by the dashed line106′. In this case, the focusing power of the ocular lens is increasedcompared to that in FIG. 1A and as a result, the micro-reticle R isimaged by the micro-lens L and the eye 104 with increased focusing powerto land in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. Otherobjects (M, P, Q as central objects and X, Y, Z as paracentral orperipheral objects) from the surrounding optical environment are imagedby the zero diopter spectacle lens 110 and the eye 104 to land atdifferent positions relative to the retina.

FIG. 2A shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young myopic eye 204 when such an eye iswearing a minus diopter value spectacle lens 210 that has the presentlydisclosed micro-reticle R and its corresponding micro-lens L and whenthe eye is fixating on a far way object represented by the dashed line206. In this case, the micro-reticle R is imaged by the micro-lens L andthe eye 204 to land on or slightly in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. Other objects (M, P, Q as central objects and X, Y, Zas paracentral or peripheral objects) from the surrounding opticalenvironment are imaged by the minus diopter value spectacle lens 210 andthe eye 204 to land at different positions relative to the retina.

FIG. 2B shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young myopic eye 204 when such an eye iswearing a minus diopter value spectacle lens 210 that has the presentlydisclosed micro-reticle R and its corresponding micro-lens L and whenthe eye is fixating on a near object represented by the dashed line206′. In this case, the focusing power of the ocular lens is increasedcompared to that in FIG. 2A and as a result, the micro-reticle R isimaged by the micro-lens L and the eye 204 with increased focusing powerto land in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. Otherobjects (M, P, Q as central objects and X, Y, Z as paracentral orperipheral objects) from the surrounding optical environment are imagedby the minus diopter value spectacle lens 210 and the eye 204 to land atdifferent positions relative to the retina.

FIG. 3A shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young emmetropic or myopic eye 304 when suchan eye is wearing an Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR)central vision correction spectacle lens 310 that has the presentlydisclosed micro-reticle R and its corresponding micro-lens L and whenthe eye is fixating on a far way object represented by the dashed line306. In this case, the micro-reticle R is imaged by the micro-lens L andthe eye 304 to land on or slightly in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. Other objects (M, P, Q as central objects and X, Y, Zas paracentral or peripheral objects) from the surrounding opticalenvironment are imaged by the IRODR central vision correction spectaclelens 310 and the eye 304 to land closer relative to each other atdifferent positions relative to the retina.

FIG. 3B shows the sharply focused image positions of various objectsrelative to the retina of a young emmetropic or myopic eye 304 when suchan eye is wearing an Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range (IRODR)central vision correction spectacle lens 310 that has the presentlydisclosed micro-reticle R and its corresponding micro-lens L and whenthe eye 304 is fixating on a near object represented by the dashed line306′. In this case, the focusing power of the ocular lens is slightlyincreased compared to that in FIG. 3A and as a result, the micro-reticleR is imaged by the micro-lens L and the eye 304 with increased focusingpower to land slightly more in the front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. Other objects (M, P, Q as central objects and X, Y, Zas paracentral or peripheral objects) from the surrounding opticalenvironment are imaged by the IRODR central vision correction spectaclelens 310 and the eye 304 to land closer relative to each other atdifferent positions relative to the retina.

FIGS. 4A-4B show one embodiment of the present invention wherein theintegrated recticle(s) include multiple micro-reticles, and wherein thereticle focuser include micro-lenses located on or as part of a singlevision correction spectacle lens. In this embodiment, each single visioncorrection spectacle lens 402 has a front surface 404 and a back surface406. On the front surface 404, micro-reticles 408 are positioneddeposited or embedded, with optional protective over-coating around theparacentral and/or peripheral zone of the single vision correctionspectacle lens 402. In this embodiment, micro-reticles 408 include apattern such as a hash symbols (although other patterns such as a cross,a checker board pattern, or just a line segment can all be options).FIG. 4A is a front view of the single vision correction spectacle, andas short thicker line-width segments on the left side of the singlevision correction spectacle lens in FIG. 4B as a cross-sectional view ofthe single vision correction spectacle lens positioned in front of awearer's eye. On the back surface 406 of the single vision correctionspectacle lens 402, there are corresponding micro-lenses 410 imprintedor molded or embedded there. These micro-lenses 410 are represented asthinner line-width circles in FIG. 4A and as bumps on the right side ofthe single vision correction spectacle lens 402 in FIG. 4B.

In this embodiment, each micro-reticle pattern has a correspondingmicro-lens. The relative position of each micro-reticle and micro-lenspair is such that light rays from a micro-reticle will be focused by itscorresponding micro-lens to create a virtual micro-reticle image infront of the wearer's eye at a desired object distance such that the eyecan focus this virtual reticle image with the light rays from themicro-reticle that pass through the eye pupil to form a real reticleimage that lands substantially on the paracentral and/or peripheralretina (as shown in FIG. 4B), or land in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina (not shown in FIG. 4B).

It should be noted that the present invention is very different fromthat of To '050 (that describes the principle of operation of theMyoSmart spectacle with D.I.M.S. Technology (Defocus IncorporatedMultiple Segments Technology) from Hoya Corp) in several aspects.Firstly, the island-shaped lenses as disclosed in To '050 are designedto optically image objects from surrounding optical environment tosomewhere in front the peripheral retina. The idea is to add power witha dioptric addition value of about 2 D to 5 D to that of the spectaclelens but in the form of distributed islands to make the wearer's eye seeperipheral objects from surrounding optical environment as myopicallydefocused on the peripheral retina. In this invention, the micro-lensesmade as part of the spectacle lens are designed to optically imagecorresponding micro-reticles which are objects not from the surroundingoptical environment but from the spectacle lens front surface to landeither on, or in front of, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. Dueto the very short distance of typically a few millimeters between themicro-reticle and the micro-lens, the focusing power of the micro-lensin dioptric value is of the order of 100 D to 1000 D and is thus muchlarger than that in To '050.

Unlike the present invention, the island-shaped mini-lenses as disclosedin To '050 can be made on the front or object side surface simplybecause they are meant to image objects from the surrounding opticalenvironment. In contrast, Applicants' micro-lenses cannot be on the veryfront or first object side surface because there is a need for apractical distance between the micro-reticle on the spectacle lens andthe micro-lens also on the spectacle lens to optically project themicro-reticle image to the eye.

Meanwhile, due to the very short distance between the micro-reticle andthe corresponding micro-lens of the present invention, the focal lengthof the micro-lens is very short (of the order of millimeter) and theoptical magnification associated with the micro-lens is very large, in asimilar manner as that of a typical microscope. In contrast, theisland-shaped mini-lens of To '050 has a much larger focal length (ofthe order of meter), so the associated optical magnification is muchless.

In addition, the object distance of surrounding optical environmentobjects that are to be focused by the island-shaped mini-lenses asdisclosed in To '050 are beyond control as surrounding environment canchange a lot. In this invention, the micro-reticle object distancerelative to the corresponding micro-lens is fixed so it is under muchbetter control.

Unlike the present invention, the island-shaped mini-lenses as disclosedin To '050 are meant to transmit as much light from the surroundingoptical environment such that sufficient visibility can be maintained.In this invention, there is intentional blocking (at least partialblocking) of light by the darker portion(s) of the micro-reticlearranged in front of its corresponding micro-lens so a micro-patternimage of certain contrast can be formed substantially on, or in front,of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

Still another difference is that the island-shaped mini-lenses asdisclosed in To '050 are relatively closely packed (separated from eachother by a distance almost equal to a value of a lens diameter center tocenter) and the dimension of each island-shaped mini-lens is of theorder of millimeters (0.8 mm to 2.0 mm as stated in the patentspecification). In this invention, the micro-lenses are more sparselydistributed and the size of each micro-lens in at least the lightfocusing direction is of the order of a few hundred micrometers.

FIGS. 5A-B show an embodiment of the present invention with themicro-reticles and micro-lenses made on or as part of a conventionalprogressive addition spectacle lens. In such a case, the spectacle lenshas two dashed-curve-defined blending zones on the left and right ofeach spectacle lens, an upper distance vision zone above the twoblending zones, a progressive corridor in between the two blending zonesacting as an intermediate vision zone, and a near vision zone below thetwo blending zones.

In this embodiment, each progressive addition spectacle lens 502 has afront surface 504 and a back surface 506. On the front surface 504 ofthe progressive addition spectacle lens 502, there are micro-reticlepatterns 508 deposited or embedded with protective over-coating aroundthe paracentral and/or peripheral zone of the progressive additionspectacle lens 502. These micro-reticles are represented as hash symbolsin FIG. 5A as front view of the progressive addition lens spectacle, andas short thicker line-width segment on the left side of the progressiveaddition spectacle lens in FIG. 5B as cross-sectional view of theprogressive addition lens positioned in front of a wearer's eye. On theback surface 506 of the progressive addition spectacle lens 502, thereare corresponding micro-lenses 510 imprinted or molded or embeddedthere. These micro-lenses 510 are represented as thinner line-widthcircles in FIG. 5A and as bumps on the right side of the progressiveaddition spectacle lens 502 in FIG. 5B.

It should be noted that in addition to improving a progressive additionspectacle lens, the micro-reticles and micro-lenses of the presentinvention can also be used to improve any peripheral add-power spectaclelens (including the Myopilux Plus spectacle lens from EssilorInternational, the MyoVision lens from Zeiss as well as the MyoSmartspectacle from Hoya as disclosed in To '050) where the add-power ismeant to either enable near vision with reduced accommodation demand orto enable off-axis objects of surrounding optical environment to beimaged in front of peripheral retina.

It should also be noted that all those features as discussed for thecase of a single vision correction spectacle lens in terms of therelative positions and relationship between the micro-reticles and themicro-lenses and their spatial distribution and size etc. can all beapplied to the progressive addition spectacle lens case and also theother peripheral add-power spectacle lens cases.

FIGS. 6A-B show an embodiment of the present invention wherein theexemplary micro-reticles and micro-lenses are additionally incorporatedwith an executive bifocal spectacle lens such as the Myopilux Maxspectacle lens from Essilor International. In such a case, the spectaclelens has a dashed-line drawn horizontally across the center to dividethe spectacle lens into an upper distance vision zone and a lower nearvision zone.

In this embodiment, each executive bifocal spectacle lens 602 has afront surface 604 and a back surface 606. On the front surface 604 ofthe executive bifocal spectacle lens 602, there are micro-reticlepatterns 608 deposited or embedded with protective over-coating aroundthe paracentral and/or peripheral zone of the executive bifocalspectacle lens 602. These micro-reticles 608 are represented as hashsymbols in FIG. 6A as front view of the executive bifocal lensspectacle, and as short thicker line-width segment on the left side ofthe executive bifocal spectacle lens in the FIG. 6B as cross-sectionalview of the executive bifocal lens 602 positioned in front of a wearer'seye. On the back surface 606 of the executive bi-focal spectacle lens602, there are corresponding micro-lenses 610 imprinted or molded orembedded there. These micro-lenses 610 are represented as thinnerline-width circles in FIG. 6A and as bumps on the right side of theexecutive bifocal spectacle lens 602 in FIG. 6B.

It should be noted that in addition to an executive bifocal spectaclelens, the exemplary micro-reticles and micro-lenses of the presentinvention can also be additionally incorporated with a conventionalbifocal (like the D-segment bifocal, the round segment bifocal and theblended bifocal) or trifocal (like the flat-top trifocal and theexecutive trifocal) or multi-focal or extended-depth-of-focus spectaclelens.

It should also be noted that all those features as discussed for thecase of a single vision correction spectacle lens in terms of therelative positions and relationship between the micro-reticles and themicro-lenses and their spatial distribution and size etc. can all beapplied to the executive bifocal spectacle lens case and also the otherbifocal (like the D-segment bifocal, the round segment bifocal and theblended bifocal) or trifocal (like the flat-top trifocal and theExecutive trifocal) or multi-focal (like those based on concentricFresnel zones of different focal lengths) or extended-depth-of-focus(like those based on diffractive concentric rings) spectacle lens cases.

The following several figures show different embodiments of the presentinvention with the micro-reticles and micro-lenses made on, or as partof, or as an addition to, an Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range(IRODR) spectacle lens combination as disclosed in U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/649,669. It should be pointed out that thereason why there are several ways to arrange the micro-lenses and thecorresponding micro-reticles is the fact that the basic structure of anIRODR spectacle lens combination comprises a first negative lens and asecond positive lens (or a negative and positive lens combination), andtherefore there are possibly four optical interfaces and a gap inbetween the first negative lens and the second positive lens that onecan use to arrange the micro-reticles and micro-lenses.

FIGS. 7A-B show an embodiment of the present invention with themicro-reticles 708 made on the front surface 704 of the first negativelens and with the micro-lenses 710 made on the back surface 706 of thefirst negative lens 702 of an IRODR spectacle lens combination.

In this embodiment, the first negative lens 702 has a front surface 704and a back surface 706, and the second positive lens 703 has a frontsurface 705 and a back surface 707. On the front surface 704 of thefirst negative lens 702, there are micro-reticle patterns 708 depositedor embedded with protective over-coating around the paracentral and/orperipheral zone of the first negative lens 702. These micro-reticles 708are represented as hash symbols in FIG. 7A as front view of the IRODRlens combination spectacle, and as short thicker line-width segment onthe left side of the first negative lens 702 in FIG. 7B ascross-sectional view of the IRODR lens combination positioned in frontof a wearer's eye. On the back surface 706 of the first negative lens702, there are corresponding micro-lenses 710 imprinted or molded orembedded there. These micro-lenses 710 are represented as thinnerline-width circles in FIG. 7A and as bumps on the right side of thefirst negative lens 702 in FIG. 7B.

FIGS. 8A-B show an embodiment of the present invention with themicro-reticles 808 made on the front surface 804 of the first negativelens 802 and with the micro-lenses 810 made on the front surface 805 ofthe second positive lens 803 of an IRODR spectacle lens combination.

In this embodiment, the first negative lens 802 has a front surface 804and a back surface 806, and the second positive lens 803 has a frontsurface 805 and a back surface 807. On the front surface 804 of thefirst negative lens 802, there are micro-reticle patterns 808 depositedor embedded with protective over-coating around the paracentral and/orperipheral zone of the first negative lens 802. These micro-reticles 808are represented as hash symbols in FIG. 8A as front view of the IRODRlens combination spectacle, and as short thicker line-width segment onthe left side of the first negative lens 802 in FIG. 8B ascross-sectional view of the IRODR lens combination positioned in frontof a wearer's eye. On the front surface 805 of the second positive lens803, there are corresponding micro-lenses 810 imprinted or molded orembedded there. These micro-lenses 810 are represented as thinnerline-width circles in FIG. 8A and as bumps on the left side of thesecond positive lens 803 in FIG. 8B.

FIGS. 9A-B show an embodiment of the present invention with themicro-reticles 908 made on the front surface 904 of the first negativelens 902 and with the micro-lenses 910 made on the back surface 907 ofthe second positive lens 903 of an IRODR spectacle lens combination.

In this embodiment, the first negative lens 902 has a front surface 904and a back surface 906, and the second positive lens 903 has a frontsurface 905 and a back surface 907. On the front surface 904 of thefirst negative lens 902, there are micro-reticle patterns 908 depositedor embedded with protective over-coating around the paracentral and/orperipheral zone of the first negative lens 902. These micro-reticles 908are represented as hash symbols in FIG. 9A as front view of the IRODRlens combination spectacle, and as short thicker line-width segment onthe left side of the first negative lens 902 in FIG. 9B ascross-sectional view of the IRODR lens combination positioned in frontof a wearer's eye. On the back surface 907 of the second positive lens903, there are corresponding micro-lenses 910 imprinted or molded orembedded there. These micro-lenses 910 are represented as thinnerline-width circles in FIG. 9A and as bumps on the right side of thesecond positive lens 903 in FIG. 9B.

FIGS. 10A-B show an embodiment of the present invention with themicro-reticles 1008 made on the back surface 1006 of the first negativelens 1002 and with the micro-lenses 1010 made on the front surface 1005of the second positive lens 1003 of an IRODR spectacle lens combination.

In this embodiment, the first negative lens 1002 has a front surface1004 and a back surface 1006, and the second positive lens 1003 has afront surface 1005 and a back surface 1007. On the back surface 1006 ofthe first negative lens 1002, there are micro-reticle patterns 1008deposited or embedded around the paracentral and/or peripheral zone ofthe first negative lens 1002. These micro-reticles are represented ashash symbols in FIG. 10A as front view of the IRODR lens combinationspectacle, and as short thicker line-width segment on the right side1006 of the first negative lens 1002 in FIG. 10B as cross-sectional viewof the IRODR lens combination positioned in front of a wearer's eye. Onthe front surface 1005 of the second positive lens 1003, there arecorresponding micro-lenses 1010 imprinted or molded or embedded there.These micro-lenses 1010 are represented as thinner line-width circles inFIG. 10A and as bumps on the left side 1005 of the second positive lens1003 in FIG. 10B.

It should be noted that the embodiment as shown in FIGS. 10A-B has anadvantage that both the micro-reticles 1008 and the micro-lenses 1010can be sealed within the IRODR spectacle lens combination and thus canbe made not accessible by the wearer to ensure that they will not beeasily damaged by the wearer when the spectacle is relatively frequentlycleaned.

FIGS. 11A-B show an embodiment of the present invention with themicro-reticles 1108 made on the back surface 1106 of the first negativelens 1102 and with the micro-lenses 1110 made on the back surface 1107of the second positive lens 1103 of an IRODR spectacle lens combination.

In this embodiment, the first negative lens 1102 has a front surface1104 and a back surface 1106, and the second positive lens 1103 has afront surface 1105 and a back surface 1107. On the back surface 1106 ofthe first negative lens 1102, there are micro-reticle patterns 1108deposited or embedded around the paracentral and/or peripheral zone ofthe first negative lens 1102. These micro-reticles 1108 are representedas hash symbols in FIG. 11A as front view of the IRODR lens combinationspectacle, and as short thicker line-width segment on the right side1106 of the first negative lens 1102 in FIG. 11B as cross-sectional viewof the IRODR lens combination positioned in front of a wearer's eye. Onthe back surface 1107 of the second positive lens 1103, there arecorresponding micro-lenses 1110 imprinted or molded or embedded there.These micro-lenses 1110 are represented as thinner line-width circles inFIG. 11A and as bumps on the right side 1107 of the second positive lens1103 in FIG. 11B.

FIGS. 12A-B show an embodiment of the present invention with themicro-reticles 1208 made on the front surface 1205 of the secondpositive lens 1203 and with the micro-lenses 1210 made on the backsurface 1207 of the second positive lens 1203 of an IRODR spectacle lenscombination.

In this embodiment, the first negative lens 1202 has a front surface1204 and a back surface 1206, and the second positive lens 1203 has afront surface 1205 and a back surface 1207. On the front surface 1205 ofthe second positive lens 1203, there are micro-reticle patterns 1208deposited or embedded around the paracentral and/or peripheral zone ofthe second positive lens 1203. These micro-reticles are represented ashash symbols in FIG. 12A as front view of the IRODR lens combinationspectacle, and as short thicker line-width segment on the left side 1205of the second positive lens 1203 in FIG. 12B as cross-sectional view ofthe IRODR lens combination positioned in front of a wearer's eye. On theback surface 1207 of the second positive lens 1203, there arecorresponding micro-lenses 1210 imprinted or molded or embedded there.These micro-lenses 1210 are represented as thinner line-width circles inFIG. 12A and as bumps on the right side 1207 of the second positive lens1203 in FIG. 12B.

FIGS. 13A-B show an embodiment of the present invention with themicro-reticles 1308 made on the front surface 1314 of an added layer1312 and with the micro-lenses 1310 made on the back surface 1316 of theadded layer 1312 where the added layer 1312 is disposed in between thefirst negative lens 1302 and the second positive lens 1303 of an IRODRspectacle lens combination.

In this embodiment, the first negative lens 1302 has a front surface1304 and a back surface 1306, and the second positive lens 1303 has afront surface 1305 and a back surface 1307. An add layer 1312 in theform of a ring or race-track like annular ring or race-track (but can bea full layer without the central hole) is disposed in between the backsurface 1306 of the first negative lens 1302 and the front surface 1305of the second positive lens 1303. The add layer 1312 has a front surface1314 and a back surface 1316 with its central portion open in this showncase to allow optimum central vision for a wearer's eye. On the frontsurface 1314 of the add layer 1312, there are micro-reticle patterns1308 deposited or embedded around the paracentral and/or peripheral zoneof the add layer 1312. These micro-reticles 1308 are represented as hashsymbols in FIG. 13A as front view of the IRODR lens combinationspectacle (where the dashed ring or race-track represents the centralopen portion of the ring or race-track like annular ring or race-track),and as short thicker line-width segment on the left side 1314 of the addlayer 1312 in FIG. 13B as cross-sectional view of the IRODR lenscombination plus the ring or race-track like annular positioned in frontof a wearer's eye. On the back surface 1316 of the add layer 1312, thereare corresponding micro-lenses 1310 imprinted or molded or embeddedthere. These micro-lenses 1310 are represented as thinner line-widthcircles in FIG. 13A and as bumps on the right side 1316 of the add layer1312 in FIG. 13B.

It should be noted that the embodiment as shown in FIGS. 13A-B has theadvantage that the micro-reticles 1308 and micro-lenses 1310 are made orfabricated on a separate layer that can be added to an IRODR spectacleinitially without the micro-reticles and micro-lenses, in addition tothe fact that both the micro-reticles 1308 and the micro-lenses 1310 canbe sealed within the IRODR spectacle lens combination and thus can bemade not accessible by the wearer to ensure that they will not be easilydamaged by the wearer when the spectacle is relatively frequentlycleaned.

However, this should not limit the scope of the invention to having theadd layer only sandwiched between the first negative lens and the secondpositive lens. On the contrary, the concept of adding a layer withmicro-reticles and micro-lenses can be applied to both a singlespectacle lens and a lens combination on or next to any opticalinterface. For example, the layer can be added or stacked around theparacentral and/or peripheral zone of one interface of a spectacle lens,in a similar manner as adding a sticking-on lens to the lower region onthe back side of a conventional single vision correction spectacle lensto convert it into a bifocal spectacle lens.

It should also be noted that in the embodiments associated with theIRODR spectacle cases from FIGS. 7A-B to FIGS. 13A-B, there can bedifferent designs of the first negative lens and the second positivelens as well as different designs of the micro-lenses andmicro-reticles. For example, those IRODR designs can be with differentcross sectional surface profiles of the first negative lens and thesecond position lens, especially the ones with paracentral and/orperipheral concentric Fresnel zones. As these variations have alreadybeen discussed in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/649,669,which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, we willtherefore not repeat all the details here. Also the micro-lens can be alens combination with a first focusing stage micro-lens on one opticalinterface (such as the back surface of first negative lens) and a secondfocusing stage micro-lens on another optical interface (such as thefront surface of second positive micro-lens) or even embedded in thefollowing optical media (such as a gradient index based micro-lens madein the second positive lens or through the overall lens structure). Itshould also be noted that as in the single vison correction spectaclelens case, with respect to the arrangements associated with the IRODRspectacle lens combination cases, the micro-reticles and themicro-lenses can also be buried in the corresponding portions of thespectacle lens material rather than being arranged on the surfaces tofurther protect them from being easily damaged.

Up to this point, we have discussed different embodiments of the presentinvention in terms of the arrangement or relative positions of themicro-reticles and micro-lenses with respect to different spectacle lensor spectacle lens combination designs. It should be noted that all theadditional features that have been briefly discussed with respect to theFIGS. 4A-B embodiment, especially those related to the difference of thepresent invention with respect to that of U.S. Pat. No. 10,268,050, canall be applied to the embodiments of FIGS. 5A-B to FIGS. 13A-B.

We will now move on to discuss different embodiments in terms of thestructure or three-dimensional structures/shapes or the refractive indexdistribution of the micro-lenses, in terms of the micro-reticlepatterns, and in terms of the distribution of the micro-pattern andmicro-lens pairs.

It should be noted that although in the embodiments from FIGS. 4A-B toFIGS. 13A-B, the micro-reticle pattern is shown as a hash symbol withthe hash line directions along either the radial (or meridional)direction or along the circumferential direction referenced to eitherthe center of the spectacle lens or the pupil position of a wearer'seye, there can be many variations. For example, checkerboard pattern,circular dot or concentric or race-track ring patterns or purelyhorizontal/vertical patterns can all be possible choices.

One reason why the isolated micro-reticle hash pattern lines are alignedalong the radial (or meridional) direction and/or the circumferentialdirection is that the human eye has natural off-axis or obliqueastigmatism, meaning that off-axis objects will be imaged to theparacentral and/or peripheral retina with two perpendicularly focusedimage shells, a tangential image shell and a sagittal image shell. Byaligning the micro-reticle pattern lines along the radial andcircumferential direction, sharply focused micro-reticle line images canbe formed on the sagittal and tangential image shells, and there existvarious ways to design the micro-lenses to control the positions of themicro-reticle's sagittal and tangential image shells relative to theparacentral and/or peripheral retina.

It should be noted that although the micro-lenses shown in FIGS. 4A-B to13A-B are drawn as a circle to represent spherical micro-lenses; theycan have many different design variations. They can be designed, forexample, to account for the eye's accommodation changes. We will nowdiscuss some of these micro-lens design variations.

FIGS. 14A-C illustrate some embodiments of the present invention inwhich the integrated reticle(s) include exemplary micro-reticle patternsarranged in concentric rings and/or radial line segments are combinedwith micro-cylindrical-lenses in the form of concentric rings and/orrelatively long radial line segments to project tangential and/orsagittal line images on or in front of the paracentral and/or peripheralretina.

FIG. 14A is a front view of a spectacle which also accomplishes thedesign goals of the exemplary spectacle lens or lens combinationembodiments as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B to FIGS. 13A-B, in accordancewith the present invention. The solid lines 1408 and 1409 represent theintegrated reticle(s), such as micro-reticle patterns, and the dashedline pairs 1410 and 1411 respectively represent the reticle focuser(s),such as micro-cylindrical lenses respectively in the form of concentricrings and in the form of relatively long radial line segments, and thesemicro-cylindrical lenses are arranged between the micro-reticles and thepupil of a wearer's eye as part of the spectacle lens or lenscombination design. It should be noted that although in FIG. 14A, wehave drawn both types of micro-cylindrical lenses in the form ofconcentric rings and in the form of relatively long radial linesegments, the embodiment can be of one type of micro-cylindrical lensesin either the form of concentric rings or in the form of relatively longradial line segments with the corresponding micro-reticle patternsaccordingly. In other words, the embodiment can have only concentricring micro-reticles and concentric ring micro-cylinder-lenses as shownin FIG. 14B, or the embodiment can include exemplary radial line segmentmicro-reticles and radial line segment micro-cylinder-lenses as shown inFIG. 14C.

The expanded insets show perspective views of the two types ofmicro-cylindrical lenses. In the case of concentric ring micro-reticlepatterns 1408 and concentric ring micro-cylindrical-lenses 1410 as shownin FIG. 14B, the axis direction of the micro-cylindrical lenses 1410 isin the circumferential direction while the focusing power is in theradial direction. The arrangement and design of these micro-reticlepatterns and micro-cylindrical lenses are such that sharply focusedtangential micro-reticle concentric ring images will be formed on, or infront of, or behind, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. In thecase of radial line segment micro-reticle patterns 1409 and radial linesegment micro-cylindrical lenses 1411 as shown in FIG. 14C, the axisdirection of the micro-cylindrical lenses is in the radial directionwhile the focusing power is in the circumferential direction. Thearrangement and design of these micro-reticle patterns andmicro-cylindrical lenses are such that sharply focused sagittalmicro-reticle line mages will be formed on, or in front of, or behind,the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

It should be noted that one design goal of the micro-cylindrical lensesis to project the corresponding micro-reticle line images on, or infront of, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina to be eitherperceived by the eye as within focus or perceived by the eye as somewhatmyopically defocused. With respect to the micro-cylindrical-lens designdetails, both conventional cylinder design and more advanced acylinderdesigns or even multi-focal or extended depth of focus cylinder designscan be employed. Also the focusing powers of the radial andcircumferential micro-cylindrical lenses can be different to project thecorresponding tangential and sagittal image shells at differentpositions relative to each other as well as relative to the paracentraland/or peripheral retina. A potential design is to overlap thetangential and sagittal image shells and project both on the paracentraland/or peripheral retina to be either perceived by the eye as withinfocus or perceived by the eye as somewhat myopically defocused.

FIGS. 15A-C illustrate some embodiments of the present invention inwhich exemplary circumferential line segments and radial line segmentsbased micro-reticle patterns are combined with circumferential linesegment and radial line segment based micro-cylindrical lenses torespectively project tangential and sagittal line images on, or in frontof, or behind, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. In thisembodiment, multiple isolated or non-connected micro-cylindrical-lenses1510 and 1511 are scattered around the paracentral and/or peripheralzone of a spectacle lens or lens combination with a first set ofisolated micro-cylindrical-lenses 1511 aligned along the radialdirection having focusing power in the circumferential direction, and/orwith a second set of isolated micro-cylindrical lenses 1510 alignedalong the circumferential direction having focusing power in the radialdirection.

FIG. 15A is a front view of another spectacle which also accomplishedthe design goals of the exemplary spectacle lens or lens combinationembodiments as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B to FIG. 13A-B, in accordance withthe present invention. The solid lines 1508 and 1509 represent theintegrated reticle(s), such as micro-reticle patterns, and the dashedrectangle-like patterns 1510 and 1511 represent the reticle focuser(s),such as micro-cylindrical-lenses in the form of circumferential barsegment and in the form of radial bar segment, and thesemicro-cylindrical-lenses are arranged between the micro-reticles and thepupil of a wearer's eye as part of the spectacle lens or lenscombination. It should be noted that although in FIG. 15A, we have drawnboth types of micro-cylindrical-lenses in the form of shortcircumferential line segment and in the form of short radial linesegments, the embodiment can be of one type of micro-cylindrical-lenseseither in the form of short circumferential line segment as shown inFIG. 15B or in the form of short radial line segments with thecorresponding micro-reticle patterns accordingly as shown in FIG. 15C.In other words, the embodiment includes exemplary circumferential linesegment micro-reticles and circumferential line segmentmicro-cylinder-lenses as shown in FIG. 15B, or the embodiment includesexemplary radial line segment micro-reticles and radial line segmentmicro-cylinder-lenses as shown in FIG. 15C.

The expanded insets show perspective views of the two types ofmicro-cylindrical-lenses. In the case of circumferential line segmentmicro-reticle patterns 1508 and circumferentially alignedmicro-cylindrical lenses 1510, the axis direction of themicro-cylindrical lenses 1510 is in the circumferential direction whiletheir focusing power is in the radial direction. The arrangement anddesign of these micro-reticle patterns and micro-cylindrical-lenses issuch that sharply focused tangential micro-reticle line images will beformed on, or in front of, or behind, the paracentral and/or peripheralretina. In the case of radial line segment micro-reticle patterns 1509and radial line segment micro-cylindrical-lenses 1511, the axisdirection of the micro-cylindrical lenses 1511 is in the radialdirection while their focusing power is in the circumferentialdirection. The arrangement and design of these micro-reticle patternsand micro-cylindrical lenses is such that sharply focused sagittalmicro-reticle line segment images will be formed on, or in front of, orbehind, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

As in the case of FIGS. 14A-C, with respect to themicro-cylindrical-lens designs, both conventional cylinder design andmore advanced acylinder designs and even multifocal or extended depth offocus cylinder designs can be employed. Also the focusing powers of theradial and circumferential micro-cylindrical lenses can be different toproject the corresponding tangential and sagittal image shells atdifferent positions relative to each other and also relative to theparacentral and/or peripheral retina. A design goal is to overlap thetangential and sagittal image shells and project both on, or in frontof, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina to be either perceived bythe eye as within focus or perceived by the eye as somewhat myopicallydefocused.

FIGS. 16A-B illustrate embodiments of the present invention in whichmicro-reticle patterns are combined with micro-toric-lenses that haveadditional positive cylindrical focusing power in the circumferentialdirection to bring the sagittal image shell closer to the tangentialimage shell or even to cause the sagittal image shell to overlap withthe tangential image shell, and to project tangential and sagittal lineimages on, or in front of, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

In this embodiment, multiple micro-reticle and micro-toric-lens pairsare lined up such that light rays from a micro-reticle, after travellingthrough its corresponding micro-toric-lens will propagate toward the eyepupil direction. The spatial arrangement of the multiple isolatedmicro-reticle and micro-toric-lens pairs are such that they arescattered around the paracentral and/or peripheral zone of a spectaclelens or lens combination. Each isolated micro-toric-lens has additionalpositive cylindrical focusing power along the circumferential directionto bring the sagittal micro-reticle line images closer to the tangentialmicro-reticle line images or even to cause the sagittal micro-reticleline images to overlap with the tangential micro-reticle line images andat the same time the two perpendicularly oriented micro-reticle lineimages are focused either on, or in front of, the paracentral and/orperipheral retina.

FIG. 16A is a front view of a spectacle which can have different basicspectacle lens or lens combination designs as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B toFIGS. 13A-B. FIG. 16B shows two cross sectional views of the samemicro-toric-lens 1610 together with its corresponding micro-reticle1608. The left portion of FIG. 16B shows the cross sectional view alongthe stronger focusing power direction and the right portion of FIG. 16Bshows the cross sectional view along the less strong focusing powerdirection. The thicker solid hash patterns 1608 in FIG. 16A representmicro-reticles with the hash pattern lines along the radial (ormeridional) and the circumferential directions, and the thinner ellipses1610 represent the micro-toric-lenses which are arranged between themicro-reticles and the wearer's eye pupil as part of the spectacle lensor lens combination.

The expanded inset shows perspective view of a micro-toric-lens 1610.The micro-toric-lenses 1610 have an additional cylindrical focusingpower along the circumferential direction in addition to a basespherical focusing power along all transverse directions. Since thenatural off-axis or oblique astigmatism of a human eye will generallycause the sagittal image shell to land behind the tangential imageshell, by making the micro-toric-lenses having a stronger light focusingpower in the circumferential direction, the sagittal micro-reticle lineimages can thus be brought closer to the tangential micro-reticle lineimages. The arrangement and design of these micro-reticle patterns andmicro-toric-lenses are such that sharply focused sagittal and tangentialmicro-reticle line images will be brought closer to each other or tooverlap with each other, and at the same time form sharply focusedmicro-reticle mutually perpendicular line images on, or in front of, theparacentral and/or peripheral retina.

FIGS. 17A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in whichmicro-reticle patterns are combined with micro-multifocal-lenses toproject micro-reticle images on, or in front of, the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. The micro-reticle and micro-multifocal-lens pairs arelined up such that light rays from a micro-reticle, after travellingthrough its corresponding micro-multifocal-lens will propagate towardthe eye pupil direction. The spatial arrangement of the micro-reticleand micro-multifocal-lens pairs is such that they are scattered aroundthe paracentral and/or peripheral zone of a spectacle lens or lenscombination. Each micro-multifocal-lens has multiple focusing powers toextend the depth of focus such that micro-reticle images will beperceived by a wearer's eye as within focus, or in desired myopicdefocus range, in the paracentral and/or peripheral retina regardless ofthe accommodation state of the wearer's eye.

It should be noted that the reason for extending the depth of focus ofthe micro-reticle images on, or in front of, the paracentral and/orperipheral retina is that the eye can focus far or near with itsaccommodation mechanism. As a result, a non-extended depth of focusdesign of the micro-lenses may not always project the micro-reticle on,or in front of, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina to be perceivedby the eye as within focused or within a desired myopic defocus rangebecause of the accommodation change.

FIG. 17A is a front view of a spectacle which can have different basicspectacle lens or lens combination designs as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B toFIGS. 13A-B. The lower portion is a side or cross sectional view of themicro-multifocal-lens 1710 and its corresponding micro-reticle 1708. Thethicker solid hash patterns 1708 in FIG. 17A represent micro-reticleswith the hash pattern lines aligned along the radial (or meridional) andthe circumferential directions, and the thinner concentric double-line(or multiple-line as shown in the expanded inset) ellipses 1710 in FIG.17A represent micro-multifocal-toric-lenses 1710 which are arrangedbetween the micro-reticles and the eye pupil as part of the spectaclelens or lens combination. It should be noted that themicro-multifocal-lens can be toric or non-toric although a toricmultifocal micro-lens is shown in FIGS. 17A-B.

The micro-multifocal-toric-lenses 1710 have some base multifocalspherical focusing powers along all transverse directions and someadditional multi-focal cylindrical focusing powers along thecircumferential direction. The design of multifocal powers can be thoseof the multiple concentric Fresnel zone ones or multiple concentricdiffractive ring (or race-track) ones or birefringent ones or even anaxicon lens ones. Note that the term multifocal here can refer to alltypes of designs that can extend the depth of focus, including bifocal,trifocal, continuous or stepped add-power, positive or negativespherical aberration designs.

Since the oblique or off axis astigmatism of a human eye will generallycause the sagittal image shell to be behind the tangential image shell,by making the micro-multifocal-toric-lenses having stronger multiplelight focusing powers in the circumferential direction, the extendeddepth of focus sagittal micro-reticle image lines can thus be broughtcloser to the extended depth of focus tangential micro-reticle imagelines. The arrangement and design of these micro-reticle patterns andmicro-multifocal-toric-lenses is such that extended-depth-of-focussagittal and tangential micro-reticle line images can be brought closerto each other or to overlap with each other and at the same time formmicro-reticle line images with extended-depth-of-focus on, or in frontof, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

It should be noted that although micro-multifocal-toric-lenses are shownin FIGS. 17A-B, they can be replaced with all other types of micro-lensdesigns.

FIGS. 18A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in which twosets of micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs are lined up such that lightrays from a micro-reticle, after travelling through its correspondingmicro-lens will propagate toward the eye pupil direction. The spatialarrangement of the two sets of micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs issuch that they are approximately evenly scattered around the paracentraland/or peripheral zone of a spectacle lens or lens combination. Thedesign of the two sets of micro-lenses is such that two sets ofmicro-reticle images will be formed on, or in front of, the paracentraland/or peripheral retina with one set's micro-reticle images designedfor the unaccommodated or relaxed state of the wearer's eye, and withthe other set's micro-reticle images designed for the accommodated stateof the wearer's eye.

It should be noted that the reason for forming two sets of micro-reticleimages in the paracentral and/or peripheral retina is that the eye canfocus far or near with its accommodation mechanism. By dividing themicro-lenses into two sets, we can have one set account for the case offar vision with relaxed eye accommodation and the other set account fortypical near vision with strong eye accommodation. With such a design,for both far and near viewing conditions, at least one set ofmicro-reticle images will have enough contrast on, or in front of, theparacentral and/or peripheral retina to generate dominatingneurophysiological signals to increase the myopia suppression stimuli.

FIG. 18A is a front view of a spectacle which can have different basicspectacle lens or lens combination designs as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B toFIGS. 13A-B. FIG. 18B is a side or cross sectional view of the twodifferent focusing power sets of micro-lenses with their correspondingmicro-reticles. The thicker solid hash patterns 1808 shown in FIG. 18Arepresent micro-reticles with the hash pattern lines aligned along theradial (or meridional) and the circumferential directions. There are twosets of thinner line ellipses 1810 and 1811, with each set representinga different group of micro-lenses, which are arranged between themicro-reticles and the eye pupil as part of the spectacle lens or lenscombination design. The first set of micro-lenses 1810 is represented bya smaller ellipse and has a stronger focusing power than the second setof micro-lenses 1811 which is represented by a larger ellipse. Thedesign of the two sets of micro-lenses is such that when the eye isrelaxed in the unaccommodated status for far vision, the first set ofmicro-lenses will project their corresponding micro-reticles to formcorresponding micro-reticle images on, or in front of, the paracentraland/or peripheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived by a wearer'seye or myopically defocused within a desired range as perceived by awearer's eye), while when the eye is not relaxed but in the accommodatedstatus for typical near vision, the second set of micro-lenses willproject their corresponding micro-reticles to form correspondingmicro-reticle images on, or in front of, the paracentral and/orperipheral retina (i.e. within focus as perceived by a wearer's eye ormyopically defocused within a desired range as perceived by a wearer'seye).

It should be noted that although we have used the term micro-lenses torefer to the embodiment of FIGS. 18A-B and have drawn the micro-lensesas ellipses, they should include all types of micro-lens designs,especially the micro-toric-lens design and the micro-multifocal-lensdesign.

Furthermore, although we have only illustrated and discussed two sets ofmicro-lenses with different focusing powers, it should be noted that thesame concept can be extended to more than two sets. For example, it canbe extended to three sets with a first set accounting for theaccommodated state when the eye is viewing a far object, a second setaccounting for the accommodation state when the eye is viewing anintermediate distance object, and a third set accounting for the strongaccommodation state when the eye is viewing a near object.

FIGS. 19A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in which one setof micro-lenses have corresponding micro-reticles and are configured toproject micro-reticle images on, or in front of, the paracentral and/orperipheral retina, and another set of mini-lenses larger in size (of theorder of millimeters than that of the micro-lenses (of the order ofhundreds of micrometers) are configured to project images of paracentraland/or peripheral objects from surrounding optical environment to be infront of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

As in the other embodiments, the micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs arelined up such that light rays from a micro-reticle, after travellingthrough its corresponding micro-lens will propagate toward the eye pupildirection.

The spatial arrangement of the mini-lenses meant to project images ofparacentral and/or peripheral objects from surrounding opticalenvironment to be in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retinacan be similar to that as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,268,050. Whilein FIGS. 19A-B, these mini-lenses are drawn on the back surface of thespectacle lens, they can also be made on the front surface of thespectacle lens. The micro-lenses meant to project micro-reticle imageson, or in front of, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina aretransversely arranged in between the spaces among the mini-lenses.

FIG. 19A is a front view of a spectacle which can have different basicspectacle lens or lens combination designs as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B toFIGS. 13A-B. FIG. 19B is a cross sectional view of the micro-lenses andthe mini-lenses made on the back surface of the base spectacle lens. Thethicker solid hash patterns 1908 shown in FIG. 19A—representmicro-reticles with the hash pattern lines aligned along the radial (ormeridional) and the circumferential directions. There is a first set ofcorresponding micro-lenses 1910 represented by those thinner linesmaller ellipses that are arranged between the micro-reticles and thewearer's eye pupil as part of the spectacle lens or lens combination.These micro-lenses 1910 have much stronger focusing powers than themini-lenses 1920 because the micro-lenses 1910 are designed to opticallyproject corresponding micro-reticles on, or in front of, the paracentraland/or peripheral retina. There is also a second set of mini-lensesrepresented by those thinner line larger ellipses 1920 that do not havecorresponding reticles. These mini-lenses 1920 have much less focusingpowers than the micro-lenses 1910 because the mini-lenses are designedto optically project paracentral and/or peripheral objects fromsurrounding optical environment to form corresponding images in front ofthe paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

As in the case of FIGS. 18A-B, it should be noted that although we havedrawn both the micro-lenses and the mini-lenses as ellipses, they shouldrepresent all types of lens designs, especially the toric-lens designand the multifocal-lens design.

FIGS. 20A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in which eitherthe micro-lenses are made on top of the mini-lenses which are made onthe back side of the spectacle lens or the micro-lenses are made on theback surface while the micro-reticles are made on the mini-lenses whichare made on the front surface of the spectacle lens. Again, themicro-lenses and corresponding micro-reticles are configured to projectmicro-reticle images on, or in front of, the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. The mini-lenses are of the order of millimeter indiameter and the micro-lenses are of the order of hundreds ofmicrometers in diameter. The portions of each mini-lens outside itscorresponding micro-lens area are configured to project images ofparacentral and/or peripheral objects from surrounding opticalenvironment to be in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

As in the other embodiments, the micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs arelined up such that light rays from a micro-reticle, after travellingthrough its corresponding micro-lens will propagate toward the eye pupildirection.

The spatial arrangement of the mini-lenses meant to project images ofparacentral and/or peripheral objects from surrounding opticalenvironment to be in front of the paracentral and/or peripheral retinacan be similar to that as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,268,050. Themicro-lenses meant to project micro-reticle images on, or in front of,the paracentral and/or peripheral retina are arranged at the center ofthe mini-lenses.

FIG. 20A is a front view of a spectacle which can have different basicspectacle lens or lens combination designs as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B toFIGS. 13A-B. FIG. 20B is a side or cross sectional view of the reticle2008 (on the left side) and its corresponding stronger focusing powermicro-lens 2010, made (on the right side) on top of the less strongfocusing power mini-lens (also on the right side). The right portion ofFIG. 20B is a side or cross sectional view showing the reticle 2008 (onthe left side) made on the mini-lens 2021 (also on the left side) andthe corresponding stronger focusing power micro-lens 2010 made (on theright side) on the back surface of the spectacle lens.

The thicker solid hash patterns 2008 shown in FIG. 20A representmicro-reticles with the hash pattern lines aligned along the radial (ormeridional) and the circumferential directions. The thinner line smallerellipses represent micro-lenses 2010 which are configured to project themicro-reticle images on, or in front of, the paracentral and/orperipheral retina. The thinner line larger ellipses 2020 representmini-lenses which are designed to optically project paracentral and/orperipheral objects from surrounding optical environment to formcorresponding images in front of the paracentral and/or peripheralretina. The mini-lenses have much less focusing powers than themicro-lenses. The micro-lenses 2010 are made on top of the mini-lenses2020 and there can be a gradual transition of surface profile from eachmicro-lens to its underneath mini-lens.

Again, it should be noted that although we have drawn both themicro-lenses and the mini-lenses as ellipses, they should represent alltypes of lens designs, especially the toric-lens design and themultifocal-lens design.

FIG. 21 shows an embodiment of the present invention in whichmicro-lenses and corresponding micro-reticles are made only on thetransparent eye wire/rim of a spectacle frame and the spectacle lens isthe same as a conventional spectacle lens of different vision correctionproperties. The micro-lenses are configured to project micro-reticleimages on, or in front of, the paracentral and/or peripheral retinawhile the spectacle lens does vision correction. As in the otherembodiments, the micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs are lined up suchthat light rays from a micro-reticle, after travelling through itscorresponding micro-lens will propagate toward the eye pupil direction.The eye wire/rim of the spectacle frame in this case can be made from atransparent material and is made wider than conventional ones to allowmore micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs to be arranged there.

In this embodiment of FIG. 21, the spectacle lens can have differentbasic spectacle lens or lens combination designs, especially the singlevision correction lens design and the IRODR lens combination design. Insuch a case, the spectacle lens does not have micro-reticles andmicro-lenses on the spectacle lens or lens combination. In FIG. 21, thethicker solid hash patterns 2108 represent micro-reticles with the hashpattern lines aligned along the radial (or meridional) and thecircumferential directions. The corresponding thinner line ellipses 2110represent micro-lenses and are arranged between the micro-reticles andthe eye pupil as part of the spectacle frame design.

It should be noted again that although we have used the termmicro-lenses in the embodiment of FIG. 21, it should be re-emphasizedthat the micro-lens design can be of any forms including all types ofmicro-lens designs, especially the micro-toric-lens design, the simplespherical or aspherical lens design, and the micro-multifocal-lensdesign.

One benefit of making the micro-reticles and micro-lenses only on theeye wire/rim of the spectacle frame is that from a cosmetic point ofview, the embodiment will look more like a conventional single visioncorrection spectacle lens so it might be more acceptable, especiallyamong somewhat older children.

It might be possible that one cause of myopia progression associatedwith a single vision correction or even a bifocal or progressionaddition lens based spectacle is that the spectacle frame will alwayscast a strongly hyperopically defocused eye wire/rim image on theperipheral retina regardless of the accommodation status of the wearer.This is because the conventional eye wire/rim of the spectacle frame ismostly not transparent, is so close to the eye (much closer than anyother objects of surrounding optical environment), and is also generallywithin the field of view of the wearer's eye.

FIG. 22 shows an embodiment of the present invention in whichmicro-lenses and corresponding micro-reticles are made on both thetransparent eye wire/rim of the spectacle frame and also on theparacentral and/or peripheral zone of the spectacle lens, with themicro-lenses configured to project micro-reticle images on, or in frontof, the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

As in the other embodiments, the micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs arelined up such that light rays from a micro-reticle, after travellingthrough its corresponding micro-lens will propagate toward the eye pupildirection. The eye wire/rim of the spectacle frame in this case is madewider than conventional ones and is made from a transparent material.

FIG. 22 is a front view of a spectacle which can have different basicspectacle lens or lens combination designs as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B toFIGS. 13A-B. The thicker solid hash patterns 2208 representmicro-reticles with the hash pattern lines aligned along the radial (ormeridional) and the circumferential directions. The correspondingthinner line circles 2210 represent micro-lenses and are arrangedbetween the micro-reticles and the wearer's eye pupil as part of thespectacle design.

It should be noted again that although we have used the termmicro-lenses in the embodiment of FIG. 22, it should be re-emphasizedthat the micro-lens design can be of any forms including all types ofmicro-lens designs, especially the micro-toric-lens design, the simplespherical or aspherical lens design, and the micro-multifocal-lensdesign.

FIGS. 23A-B show an embodiment of the present invention in which themicro-lenses and corresponding micro-reticles are made on a clip-on oradd-on glass/layer in its paracentral and/or peripheral zone with theclip-on or add-on glass/layer to be added to a spectacle lens in asimilar way as a clip-on sun glass does. The clip-on or add-on designcan be of a removable or flip-up/down or permanent attachment type. Theclip-on or add-on glass/layer can be a simple plastic or glass layerwithout any base focusing power, but it can also have a base add-onpower to provide additional functions such as reading or executivebi-focal type of reading function to enable near distance reading inaddition to adding the function of the micro-reticles and micro-lenses.

As in the other embodiments, the micro-lenses are configured to projectcorresponding micro-reticle images on, or in front of, the paracentraland/or peripheral retina. The micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs arelined up such that light rays from a micro-reticle, after travellingthrough its corresponding micro-lens, will propagate toward the eyepupil direction.

FIG. 23A is a front view of a clip-on or add-on layer 2303 added to aspectacle which can have different basic spectacle lens or lenscombination designs as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-B to FIGS. 13A-B. FIG. 23Bis a side or cross-sectional view of the clip-on or add-on layer 2303added to a spectacle positioned in front of a wearer's eye. Themicro-reticles 2308 and micro-lenses 2310 are respectively made on thefront surface 2304 and the back surface 2306 of the clip-on or add-onlayer 2303 in its paracentral and/or peripheral zone. The thicker solidhash patterns 2308 shown FIG. 23A represent the micro-reticles with thehash pattern lines aligned along the radial (or meridional) and thecircumferential directions. There are also corresponding thinner linecircles 2310 that represent micro-lenses and are arranged between themicro-reticles and the eye pupil as part of the clip-on or add-on layerdesign to be clipped onto a spectacle frame or stacked onto a spectaclelens.

It should be noted again that although we have used the termmicro-lenses in the embodiment of FIGS. 23A-B, with the micro-lensesdrawn as circles, they should include all types of micro-lens designs,especially the micro-toric-lens design and the micro-multifocal-lensdesign.

In addition, it should also be noted that the focusing effect of all themicro-lenses can also be achieved through a change in the refractiveindex distribution as well as a combination of surface profile andrefractive index distribution. So these variations should also beconsidered as within the scope of the present invention.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that the design of the micro-lensescan be personalized in the sense that anatomical and/or visual and/oroptical refraction measurements can be made first to characterize theoptical image formation or refraction properties of the eye. Thesemeasurements include optical biometry and/or opticalrefraction/wavefront and/or visual acuity and/or visual contrastsensitivity in the central, as well as paracentral and/or peripheralretina. The measurement results can be factored in to guide the designof the micro-lenses to correct not only lower order aberrationsincluding off-axis or oblique astigmatism associated with an eye butalso higher order aberrations such that fully corrected micro-reticleimages can be created on, or in front of, the paracentral and/orperipheral retina.

We will now take a look at the size of the micro-reticles and themicro-lenses, their spatial density or distribution to furtherillustrate with more technical details the practicality of the presentinvention. For imaging analysis convenience in terms of illustrating thebasics, we will use the simple thin lens formula to first figure out theapproximate optical magnification when a micro-reticle is imaged to theretina of a typical human eye.

Assuming that light rays travel from left to right toward a thin lens,the thin lens equation is

${\frac{1}{p} + \frac{1}{q}} = \frac{1}{f}$

where

p is the object distance (from object to thin lens), is positive for areal object located to the left of the lens, and is negative for avirtual object located to the right of the thin lens,

q is the image distance (from image to thin lens), is positive for areal image formed to the right of the lens, and is negative for avirtual image formed to the left of the thin lens,

f is the focal length (from either front or back focal point to thinlens), is positive for a converging lens and negative for a diverginglens.

The optical magnification m produced by a thin lens is given by

$m = {- \frac{q}{p}}$

If the magnification is negative then the image will be upside-downcompared to the object. If the magnification is positive then the imagewill have the same orientation as the object.

In the case of a micro-reticle arranged in front of a micro-lens,typical object distance is limited to the thickness of the basespectacle lens and (or the gap in a) lens combination or the inserted orclipped-on layer. Practically speaking, this thickness is of the orderof 1 mm to 10 mm. To get an order of magnitude estimation, we can assumethat the object distance is p=1 mm to 10 mm. When an eye is found to beslightly near sighted, the dioptric value is generally about −1D whichmeans that an object at distance of about 1 meter or 1000 mm will besharply focused by this slightly near sighted eye to land on the retinawithout accommodation. To the micro-lens, this means that themicro-reticle image formed only by the micro-lens needs to be anon-inverted virtual image at a distance of about 1000 mm relative tothe micro-lens in the object space rather than in the image space, soq=−1000 mm. As a result, the focal length of the micro-lens is alsoabout 1 mm to 10 mm because the magnitude of 1/q is much less than thatof 1/p which mean p≈f=1 mm to 10 mm. Meanwhile, the opticalmagnification of the micro-lens is of the order of m=−q/p=1000/10 to1000/1=100 to 1000. This virtual image formed by only the micro-lens canbe treated as a real object for the human eye. So if we use a prime signto indicate parameters related to a simplified thin lens system of ahuman eye, the object distance is approximately p′=1000 mm, the focallength of such a human eye when treated as a thin lens is approximatelyf′=17 mm, so using the thin lens formula, the image distance is

$q^{\prime} = {{- \frac{1}{\left( {\frac{1}{f^{\prime}} - \frac{1}{p^{\prime}}} \right)}} = {{- \frac{p^{\prime}*f^{\prime}}{\left( {p^{\prime} - f^{\prime}} \right)}} = {\frac{1000*17}{1000 - 17} \approx {17\mspace{14mu}{mm}}}}}$

Therefore, the optical magnification of the second human eye thin lenssystem is

$m^{\prime} = {{- \frac{q^{\prime}}{p^{\prime}}} = {{- \frac{17}{1000}} = {- 0.017}}}$

Therefore, the overall optical magnification is approximately equal to

$M = {{m*m^{\prime}} = {{\left( {- \frac{q}{p}} \right)\left( {- \frac{q^{\prime}}{p^{\prime}}} \right)} = {{\left( {100\mspace{14mu}{to}\mspace{14mu} 1000} \right)*\left( {- 0.017} \right)} \approx {{{- 1.7}\mspace{14mu}{to}}\mspace{14mu} - 17}}}}$

This means that a micro-reticle when finally imaged to the retina willbe inverted, real, and approximately magnified on the retina to be about1.7 to 17 times of its actual size. In other words, if we want to createmicro-reticle image of the same size on the retina, depending on thefocal length of the micro-lens, the original micro-reticle size can be1.7 to 17 times smaller than that on the retina.

The next question is what the minimum line width of the reticle image onthe paracentral and/or peripheral retina should be, such that it canstill be detected and/or resolved by the human eye's paracentral and/orperipheral retina to produce neurophysiological signals. This questioncan be answered from clinical studies related to peripheral retinaldetection and resolution acuity. As only cones function in photopic(i.e. outdoor day lighting or indoor room lighting) conditions, thedetection of the presence of a bright (or dark) line on a dark (orbright) background needs at least one row of stimulated (orunstimulated) cones to lie between rows of unstimulated (or stimulated)cones. The size of a cone cell in the paracentral and/or peripheralretina is about 50 μm. Recall that the overall optical magnificationfrom a micro-reticle to the retina is from 1.7 to 17, so the actualmicro-reticle pattern line width should be at least 50 μm/(from 1.7 to17)≈3 μm (for f=1 mm) to 30 μm (for f=10 mm) for it to be detectable byperipheral retinal cone cells. Micro-reticle line width of this size orbigger size can obviously be practically made using various modernlithography or laser writing or printing technologies.

Meanwhile, in the peripheral retina, a single retinal ganglion cell willreceive information from thousands of photoreceptors (including bothcones and rods), and it is the peripheral retinal ganglion cell densityor spatial distribution that determines peripheral visual resolvingpower or resolution acuity. In other words, for the signal received by acone cell to become a resolvable neurophysiological signal differentfrom another nearby signal, a different retinal ganglion cell is needed.Given the fact that in the peripheral retina, the size of the retinalganglion cell receptive field is about 500 μm, so for the direction of amicro-reticle pattern line or for two different reticle patterns to beresolved or sensed as spatially resolvable signals, the micro-reticlepattern line image length or the separation distance between twomicro-reticle patterns needs to be at least 500 μm on the peripheralretina.

For each micro-reticle and micro-lens pair, a line can be drawn from thecenter of the reticle through the center of the micro-lens, then throughthe center of the eye pupil to the peripheral retina, the distance fromthe spectacle lens to the eye pupil is typically about 12 mm, the focallength of the eye is about 17 mm, so a separation of 500 μm on theperipheral retina will be translated to a separation of about 500μm×(12/17)≈350 μm on the actual micro-reticle lying surface. This meansthat the separation distance between centers of two neighboringmicro-reticles on the micro-reticle surface needs to be at least 350 μmfor the two neighboring reticles to be resolved as two differentneurophysiological signals.

If we want to make sure that the reticle pattern line orientationdirection is to be resolved by the paracentral and/or peripheral retina,we need to consider the micro-lens induced optical magnification of 1.7to 17 times, so the micro-reticle pattern line length needs to be fromat least 500 μm/17=30 μm if the micro-length focal length is about f=1mm, to at least 500 μm/1.7=300 μm if the micro-lens focal length is f=10mm.

In some embodiments, enough spacing is left between two neighboringmicro-lenses so paracentral and/or peripheral objects from surroundingoptical environment can be sensed by the eye as well but with lesscontrast so the overall signals from the micro-reticles will dominateover those from paracentral and/or peripheral objects of surroundingoptical environment. A possible scenario is to evenly distribute themicro-reticle and micro-lens pairs in the paracentral and/or peripheralzone of the spectacle lens or on the eye wire/rim of a spectacle frame.We can divide the paracentral and/or peripheral zone into multipleinter-connecting regular hexagons or honeycombs. That way, each regularhexagon or honeycomb corresponding to a micro-lens can be surrounded by6 neighboring blank regular hexagons or honeycombs that do not have themicro-lens. Thus, each regular hexagon or honeycomb needs to have a sizeof at least 350 μm per the requirement of the micro-lens transversediameter.

It should be noted that for a micro-lens with a focal length f from 1 mmto 10 mm, its optical focusing power is of the order of 1000 Diopter to100 Diopter. As for the radius of curvature of a corresponding convexlight focusing interface, assuming that there is only one convex opticalinterface formed between a high refractive index material (n2=1.5) andair (n1=1.0), the radius of curvature R of this convex optical interfaceis, as is well known to those in the art, is R=f(n2−n1)/n2=(1 mm to 10mm) (1.5−1)/1.5≈0.3 mm to 3 mm, which are very practically achievablevalues as such micro-lenses can be made through imprinting, embossing,molding, 3D printing and even lithography based chemical etching andsuch lenses are already commercially available.

To determine a practical value of the transverse diameter D of eachmicro-lens, there are a couple of parameters that should be considered.The first one is that the diameter D cannot be more than twice theradius of curvature (R) of the convex focusing interface. So this willlimit the diameter D to within the range of 2R, or from 0.6 mm to 6 mm.

The second parameter is related to the general rule governing paraxialray tracing or simple thin lens formula, which states that the sine ortangent of an angle in radian needs to be approximately equal to theangle itself in radian. Therefore, the numerical aperture or the halflight-collection-cone-angle should be less than 0.25 radians. Given thateach micro-reticle is about 1 mm to 10 mm away from its correspondingmicro-lens, the micro-lens diameter D therefore should be less than therange of 0.5×(1 mm to 10 mm)=from 500 μm to 5000 μm (corresponding tothe focal length of the micro-lens from 1 mm to 10 mm).

Combining this limitation (micro-lens transverse diameter D needs to beless than 500 μm (for f=1 mm) to less than 5000 μm (for f=10 mm)) withthe limitation that the separation distance between two neighboringmicro-lenses needs to be greater than 350 μm, and the need for themicro-reticle pattern line length to be greater than 30 μm (for f=1 mm)to 300 μm (for f=10 mm), we can select the transverse diameter of eachmicro-lens to be about 500 μm. Such a micro-lens transverse diameterwill cast a micro-lens shadow of 500 μm×(17/12)≈700 μm on theparacentral and/or peripheral retina. Correspondingly, the micro-reticlepattern line length, when projected (with associated opticalmagnification) to the paracentral and/or peripheral retina needs to havea size of about 700 μm, in order to ensure that there is no area overlapon the paracentral and/or peripheral retina in terms of areas meant forsensing micro-reticle patterns versus areas meant to be used for sensingparacentral and/or peripheral objects from surrounding opticalenvironment. To achieve this, the corresponding micro-reticle linelength should be 700 μm/17≈40 μm (for f=1 mm) to 700 μm/1.7≈400 μm.These parameters are again very practical in terms of themicro-fabrication and spatial distribution because micro-lens arrayswith each micro-lens having a diameter of a few hundred microns and afocal length of a few millimeters are already commercially available.The difference is in the distribution as most commercially availablemicro-lens arrays are closely packed and for the present application,they need to be more sparsely distributed. Materials that can be usedfor making such micro-lenses as well as the base spectacle lens or lenscombination can be different glasses and plastics or polymers,especially those with high refractive index that can be shaped throughthermal setting, imprinting, embossing, molding, 3D printing and evenlithography based chemical etching.

It should be noted that although we only discussed in detail the regularhexagon or honeycomb pattern distribution as an embodiment with eachmicro-reticle and micro-lens pair surrounded by 6 neighboringapproximately equal areas, there can be many different spatialdistribution possibilities which should all be within the scope of thisinvention. If the transverse diameter D of the micro-lens is equal tothe long diagonal or maximal diameter of the hexagon or honeycomb, thenon average, the area occupied by each micro-lens is one third of theun-occupied area because the 6 surrounding hexagons or honeycombs areshared on average by two micro-lenses. So with the example spatialdistribution design, 25% of the paracentral and/or peripheral zone willbe occupied by the micro-lenses and 75% of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina will be available for sensing objects from surroundingoptical environment. This ratio can obviously be changed by changingeither the transvers diameter D of the micro-lens relative to the longdiagonal or maximal diameter of the hexagon or honeycomb, or the otherway, and the line length of the micro-reticle pattern can also be ofdifferent values as long as it is greater than 500 μm on the paracentraland/or peripheral retina (after the overall optical magnification) forthe micro-reticle line orientation direction to be resolved by theparacentral and/or peripheral retina.

It should be noted at this point that the present invention associatedwith a spectacle has an advantage that a contact lens does not have, andthat is the relative eye movement with respect to the spectacle lens.This relative movement means that different paracentral and/orperipheral retinal cone cells and/or ganglion cells will be triggered bythe micro-reticle images to produce neurophysiological signals that caninfluence the localized retinal growth. If there is no such relative eyemovement, there might be the possibility that only some of the cone organglion cells will always receive the micro-reticle image inducedneurophysiological signals and as a result, only those localizedparacentral and/or peripheral retinal areas will not grow or grow moreslowly than other areas, which may cause the retinal surface to be nolonger smooth but with peaks or troughs.

We will now move on to discuss the contrast of the micro-reticle imagesin terms of controlling the transparency or opaqueness of themicro-reticle pattern or its local surrounding area as well as colorfiltering. As one feature of the present invention, the micro-reticlescan be either completely opaque or semi-transparent. Thesemi-transparency can be reflective or absorptive or colored withdifferent transparency percentages. The opaqueness or semi-transparencyof the micro-reticle pattern can be achieved through coating orevaporating or printing different materials with different layerthickness or doping of colored dyes. For example, the pattern can bemade from a thin layer of black paint or a thin layer of light absorbingor reflecting metal.

The opaqueness or transparency of the micro-reticles can be designedsuch that under normal indoor and/or outdoor lighting conditions, themicro-reticle images casted on the paracentral and/or peripheral retinaalways have high enough contrast per the design of the micro-lens (whichmay be multi-focal or extended-depth-of-focus ones) such that thesemicro-reticle images are always within focus or somewhat myopicallydefocused as perceived by the eye with or without accommodation, thusalways producing dominating neurophysiological signals over thoseproduced by paracentral and/or peripheral objects from the surroundingoptical environment or from the eye wire/rim of a conventional spectacleframe.

In one embodiment, two sets of micro-lens focusing powers ormicro-lens-to-micro-reticle distances and/or two sets ofsemi-transparencies of the micro-reticles are designed such that undernormal outdoor and/or indoor lighting conditions, when the eye'saccommodation is relaxed to view far distance object, a first set ofmicro-reticle images will have enough contrast to produce dominatingperceived-within-focus or somewhat myopically defocusedneurophysiological signals on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina,while a second set of micro-reticle images not focused on theparacentral and/or peripheral retina (thus is blurred to some extent) donot have enough contrast to produce perceivable neurophysiologicalsignals for the paracentral and/or peripheral retina; whereas when theeye's accommodation is changed to view near distance object, the secondset of micro-reticle images that are now substantially focused on theparacentral and/or peripheral retina will have enough contrast toproduce dominating perceived-within-focus or somewhat myopicallydefocused neurophysiological signals for the retina, while the first setof micro-reticle images that are not focused on the paracentral and/orperipheral retina do not have enough contrast to produce perceivablesignals on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

In another embodiment, the micro-reticles and/or its local surroundingareas and/or the paracentral and/or peripheral zone of the spectaclelens are colored to explore the most efficient color band or colorcontrast that will produce the strongest neurophysiological signals toslow down or stop eye elongation. The color filtering can be achievedthrough multiple layer dielectric coating as is done for standardoptical bandpass or long pass or short pass filters or directly derivedfrom the optical material like in the case of color glasses. Thecoloring can be the same or different among different micro-reticleimages. Since there is more than one optical surfaces associated with aspectacle lens or lens combination, any of the surfaces can be used forcoloring/filtering, including the surface(s) of the micro-lens as wellas the surfaces of the spectacle lens(es).

The color filtering of the micro-reticle patterns and/or its localsurrounding areas and/or the paracentral and/or peripheral zone of thespectacle lens can be designed such that under normal indoor and/oroutdoor lighting conditions, the colored micro-reticle images casted onthe paracentral and/or peripheral retina always have high enough coloredcontrast such that these colored reticle images are dominating in termsof producing neurophysiological signals to slow down or stop eyeelongation over real paracentral and/or peripheral object imagesproduced by the surrounding optical environment that the wearer's eyeactually sees regardless of whether the eye is accommodated for nearvision or not accommodated (i.e. relaxed) for far vision.

So far, we have discussed only those embodiments of the presentinvention that are passive in the sense that there are no activeelements involved such as solar cells, batteries or movable parts, orshapeable or material-property-changeable components, or materials thatcan detect light and/or light up itself. However, this does not meanthat this invention has excluded these possibilities; instead, thesepossibilities should be considered as different embodiments as have beendiscussed in co-assigned U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/649,669.

FIGS. 24A-C show such an embodiment in which solar cells and/orbatteries (together with micro-electronic circuits if needed) 2434 andlight sensors 2432 are embedded in the spectacle frame or the eyewires/rims of the spectacle frame to enable sensing and/or activation ofcertain functions. At the same time, on the eye wire/rim and/or thespectacle lens (or lens combination), there are micro-reticles andmicro-lenses made there. In FIGS. 24A-C, the thicker solid hash patterns2408 represent micro-reticles with the hash pattern lines aligned alongthe radial (or meridional) and the circumferential directions. Thecorresponding thinner line circles 2410 represent micro-lenses and arearranged between the micro-reticles and the eye pupil as part of thespectacle design.

It should be noted again that although we have used the termmicro-lenses in the embodiment of FIGS. 24A-C, the micro-lens design canbe of any forms including all types of micro-lens designs, especiallythe micro-toric-lens design, the simple spherical or aspherical lensdesign, and the micro-multifocal-lens design. In fact, FIG. 24A, aspectacle with only the spectacle lens having micro-reticles andmicro-lenses similar to what has been discussed in FIGS. 4A-B are shownand the micro-lenses are drawn as circles surrounding correspondingmicro-reticles; in FIG. 24B, a spectacle with only the eye wires/rimshaving micro-reticles and micro-lenses similar to what has beendiscussed in FIG. 21 are shown and the micro-lenses are drawn asellipses surrounding corresponding micro-reticles; and FIG. 24C, aspectacle with both the spectacle lens and also the eye wire/rim havingmicro-reticles and micro-lenses similar to what has been discussed inFIG. 22 are shown and the micro-lenses are drawn as circles surroundingcorresponding micro-reticles.

In this embodiment, in addition to embedding light sensors and solarcells and/or batteries in the frame and/or eye wire/rim of the spectacleto provide powering capabilities, one particular active function of thespectacle in FIGS. 24A-C is to slightly light up the micro-reticles whenlighting from surrounding optical environment is below a certainthreshold and hence not as favorable as needed to produce dominatingmicro-reticle images on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. Toachieve this, optically transparent electrodes made from, for example,indium tin oxide, can be deposited on the eye wire/rim and/or on thespectacle lens to link the solar cells and/or batteries (together withmicro-electronics if needed) to the micro-reticles and/or its localsurrounding areas. The micro-reticle pattern lines or the materialaround the micro-reticle pattern lines can be made from semi-transparentor organic light-emitting-diode-like-materials with either narrowspectral bandwidth single color band or broad spectral bandwidthmultiple color band light emitting capabilities.

It should be noted that a key feature of the present invention is thearrangement of each micro-reticle and micro-lens pair to projectmicro-reticle images through the pupil of a wearer's eye to form amicro-reticle image on, or in front, of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina of an eye in such a way that the micro-reticle images,when perceived by the eye, are within focus or myopically defocused. Thephrase perceived by the eye as within focus can be interpreted as thatthe spherical equivalent image shell of the sagittal and tangentialimage shells is approximately on or close (i.e. within the depth offocus of the eye) to the paracentral and/or peripheral retina. Thephrase perceived by the eye as myopically defocused can be interpretedas that the spherical equivalent image shell of the sagittal andtangential image shells is somewhat in the front (i.e. anterior andoutside the depth of focus of the eye) of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina but can still be sensed by the eye to induceneurophysiological signal to halt eye elongation. This feature should beapplicable to all the above discussed embodiments.

FIG. 25 shows an embodiment in which only a spectacle frame without aspectacle lens or with a zero diopter spectacle lens is used asanti-myopia means to prevent the onset of myopia. FIG. 25 is a frontview of a spectacle frame. On the frame there is a pair of transparenteye wires/rims 2542 on which micro-reticles 2508 and micro-lenses 2510are made. The thicker solid hash patterns 2508 shown in FIG. 25represent the micro-reticles with the hash pattern lines aligned alongthe radial (or meridional) and the circumferential directions. There arealso corresponding thinner line ellipses 2510 that representmicro-lenses and are arranged between the micro-reticles and the eyepupil as part of the eye wire/rim design of the spectacle frame.

The width of the eye wire/rim is wider than that of a conventional onesuch that at least one or more rows of micro-reticle and micro-lenspairs can be arranged within the width around the eye wire/rim. Notethat if the fact that there is no spectacle lens makes the device lessacceptable, a zero Diopter spectacle lens can be attached to the frameto make it look cosmetically more like a real spectacle, a sunglass likespectacle lens with zero Diopter refraction power can, for example, bemounted to the frame to make it into a myopia prevention sunglass.

As in the cases of other embodiments, all those variations or possibleproperties associated with the micro-reticle, and the micro-lens, theeye wire/rim, and the frame, as already discussed, can all be applied tothis embodiment, especially those related to the micro-reticle andmicro-lens designs as well as the addition of active elements like solarcell(s), light sensor(s) and transparent light emitting sub-areas orpatterns to light up the micro-reticle patterns to increase the contrastof the micro-reticle images on the paracentral and/or peripheral retinawhen the background lighting is dim.

What might be unique about this embodiment is that it is well suited fora relatively young child like a 4-year-old before the onset of myopia,especially if the child's one parent is or both parents are myopia or ifthere is a family history of myopia. So the embodiment is more forpreventing myopia than for controlling the progression of myopia.

The same concept can also be extended to a zero Diopter panoramic gogglethat does not have a frame but instead only has an elastic band to tiethe goggle around the head of a wearer. FIG. 26 shows an embodiment inwhich the curved panoramic goggle layer is designed with micro-reticleand micro-lens pairs made on its paracentral and/or peripheral zone(s).

FIG. 26 is a front view of a panoramic goggle with a pair of lenses onwhich micro-reticles 2608 and micro-lenses 2610 are made around theparacentral and/or peripheral zone. The thicker solid hash patterns 2608shown in FIG. 26 represent the micro-reticles with the hash patternlines aligned along the radial (or meridional) and the circumferentialdirections. There are also corresponding thinner line ellipses 2610 thatrepresent micro-lenses and are arranged between the micro-reticles andthe eye pupil as part of the panoramic goggle design.

Like the embodiment of FIG. 25, all those variations or possibleproperties associated with the spectacle lens, the micro-reticle, andthe micro-lens, as already discussed, can all be applied to thisembodiment, especially those related to the micro-reticle and micro-lensdesigns as well as the addition of active elements like solar cell(s),light sensor(s) and transparent light emitting sub-areas or patterns tolight up the micro-reticle patterns to increase the contrast of themicro-reticle images on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina whenthe background lighting is dim. Also like the embodiment of FIG. 25,this embodiment can be used for a relatively young child like a4-year-old before the onset of myopia, especially if the child's oneparent is or both parents are myopia or if there is a family history ofmyopia.

With all the above discussions, we can also envision a combo designembodiment which takes full advantage of the various favorable featuresof the invention. In terms of the basic spectacle lens design, it cantake advantage of the Increased Resolvable Object Distance Range(IRODR)spectacle lens combination design because such a basic designwill address the first key potential root cause of myopia progression,i.e. the accommodative demand or lag(insufficient accommodation range oramplitude). The IRODR design can have its basic central portion designaccounting for neutralizing the spherical and cylindrical refractiveerrors of a wearer's eye. The IRODR design can be personalized such thatits depth of field (or focus) is effectively increased to justsufficiently compensate the accommodation need or lag to ensure that atleast the central fovea can always see sharply focused images of far andnear objects from the optical environment. The fact that there are fouroptical interfaces gives huge spectacle lens design flexibility so evenmore personalized and/or optimized IRODR design can be achieved.

In terms of the paracentral and/or peripheral zone design of the basicspectacle lens combination, the first negative lens and/or the secondpositive lens can have a Fresnel paracentral and/or peripheral zone onthe inner side or both inner sides between the two lenses so while theoverall thickness of the IRODR spectacle lens combination can be maderelatively thin (for example less than 6 mm), the Fresnel steps are alsocontained inside the spectacle lens combination and hence not easilydamaged by the user. In addition, the Fresnel paracentral and/orperipheral zone design can also be such that there is an overall addpower in the paracentral and/or peripheral zone to render paracentraland/or peripheral far distance object images from the surroundingoptical environment to be somewhat in front of the paracentral and/orperipheral retina (i.e. somewhat myopically defocused) regardless ofwhether the eye is accommodated for near vision or not accommodated forfar vision. The Fresnel paracentral and/or peripheral zone design canalso be bifocal to account for relaxed vs accommodated state of the eye.Such a paracentral and/or peripheral zone design will address the secondkey potential root cause of myopia progression, i.e. dominatingparacentral and/or peripheral hyperopic defocus of the images formed ofparacentral and/or peripheral objects from surrounding opticalenvironment.

In terms of the micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs to be made in theparacentral and/or peripheral zone, they can be designed such that thefinal micro-reticle images on the paracentral and/or peripheral retinaclosely resemble those that are formed of far distance paracentraland/or peripheral objects from surrounding optical environment on theparacentral and/or peripheral retina of an emmetropic eye. They can alsobe personalized to always project micro-reticle images on or somewhat infront of the paracentral and/or peripheral retina with not only lowerorder aberrations corrected but also higher order aberrations corrected.The micro-lens design can also be that of multi-focal orextended-depth-of-focus types. As a result, the micro reticle imageswill always be within focus or be somewhat myopically defocused asperceived by the wearer's eye regardless of whether the eye isaccommodated for near vision or unaccommodated (relaxed) for far vision.To protect the micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs from being easilydamaged, they can be made inside the IRODR spectacle lens combinationwith the micro-reticles made on the Fresnel back surface of the firstnegative lens and with the micro-lenses made on the Fresnel frontsurface of the second positive lens. The spatial distribution of themicro-reticle and micro-lens pairs can be such that enough paracentraland/or peripheral areas are reserved for sensing paracentral and/orperipheral objects of the surrounding optical environment, and theopaqueness or semi-transparency of the micro-reticle patterns can besuch that under typical outdoor and indoor lighting conditions, themicro-reticle images on the paracentral and/or peripheral retina willalways produce dominating neurophysiological signals to overcome thosepossible hyperopically defocused signals on the paracentral and/orperipheral retina that can be generated by the surrounding opticalenvironment. Such a design will therefore address the third potentialroot cause of myopia progression, i.e. the uncontrollability ofparacentral and/or peripheral objects from surrounding opticalenvironment and the accommodation of the eye to cause the image shell ofparacentral and/or peripheral objects from surrounding opticalenvironment to land behind the paracentral and/or peripheral retina.

In addition, the combo design can also be done with the spectacle frameor at least the eye wire/rim portion of the frame made transparent andat the same time to have micro-reticle and micro-lens pairs made on theeye wire/rim to fully remove or at least substantially reduce the effectof eye wire/rim images that are always strongly hyperopically defocusedon the peripheral retina. Such a design will therefore address thefourth potential root cause of myopia progression, i.e. spectacle frameor eye wire/rim induced strongly hyperopic eye wire/rim images on theperipheral retina.

It should also be noted that the same concept can be applied to treatfar sightedness in the sense that the micro-reticle images can bedesigned to always land somewhat behind the paracentral and/orperipheral retina to produce dominating neurophysiological signals tostimulate the eye to grow.

Although various embodiments that incorporate the teachings of thepresent invention have been shown and described in detail herein, thoseskilled in the art can readily devise many other varied embodiments thatstill incorporate these teachings.

While this invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,there are alterations, modifications, permutations, and substituteequivalents, which fall within the scope of this invention. Althoughsub-section titles have been provided to aid in the description of theinvention, these titles are merely illustrative and are not intended tolimit the scope of the present invention.

1-22. (canceled)
 23. An auxiliary optical system for myopia progressioncontrol and configured to be coupled to a spectacle in front of an eye,the auxiliary optical system comprising: a central zone; and at leastone of a paracentral zone and a peripheral zone, wherein at least one ofthe paracentral zone and the peripheral zone includes an integratedreticle and a reticle focuser, wherein the reticle focuser is arrangedbetween the integrated reticle and a pupil of the eye, and therebyprojecting an image of the integrated reticle onto at least one of aparacentral region and a peripheral region of a retina of the eye, to beperceived by the eye as within focus at the retina.
 24. An auxiliaryoptical system for myopia progression control and configured to becoupled to a spectacle in front of an eye, the auxiliary optical systemcomprising: a central zone; and at least one of a paracentral zone and aperipheral zone, wherein at least one of the paracentral zone and theperipheral zone includes an integrated reticle and a reticle focuser,wherein the reticle focuser is arranged between the integrated reticleand a pupil of the eye, and thereby projecting an image of theintegrated reticle onto at least one of a paracentral region and aperipheral region of a retina of the eye, to be perceived by the eye asmyopically defocused at the retina.
 25. The auxiliary optical system ofclaim 24 further comprises a base layer on which the reticle and thereticle focuser are integrated, and wherein the auxiliary optical systemis configured to be clipped-on to or added-on to the spectacle.
 26. Theauxiliary optical system of claim 25 wherein the base layer has nofocusing power.
 27. The auxiliary optical system of claim 25 wherein thebase layer has a focusing power.
 28. The auxiliary optical system ofclaim 27 wherein the base layer is configured to assist with neardistance reading.
 29. The auxiliary optical system of claim 27 wherein afirst portion of the base layer is configured to assist with neardistance reading, and wherein a second portion of the base layer isconfigured to assist in far distance reading.
 30. The auxiliary opticalsystem of claim 24 wherein the auxiliary optical system is configured tobe removable with respect to the spectacle.
 31. The auxiliary opticalsystem of claim 24 wherein the auxiliary optical system is configured tobe flipped up and down with respect to the spectacle.
 32. The auxiliaryoptical system of claim 24 wherein the auxiliary optical system isconfigured to be permanently attached to the spectacle.